Halo-Mass Effect: Altered-Destiny (DiscontinuedBeing Rewritten)
by Azores
Summary: This story has been discontinued. A rewrite is being made, starting with Halo-Mass Effect: Salvation's Light. (Out Now)
1. In The Shadow Of Giants

UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE /CFV-88\ PHOENIX-CLASS COLONY SHIP

BUILT: 2473  
RETROFITTED FOR MILITARY SERVICE: 2520  
LENGTH: 2.5 KM (8,200 FT)  
WIDTH: 800 M (2,600 FT)  
HULL ARMOR: 2 M OF TITANIUM-A COATED WITH TUNGSTEN  
ARMAMENT:  
1 LIGHT MAGNETIC ACCELERATOR CANNON (150 TONS)  
52 50MM POINT DEFENSE GUNS  
22 100MM DECK GUNS  
50 ATAF MISSLE TURRETS  
FTL DRIVE: SHAW-FUJIKAWA TRANSLIGHT ENGINE (SLIPSPACE DRIVE)  
ENGINE: 8 THRUSTER UNITS  
NAVAL PERSONEL: 1,500  
MAXIMUM PESONNEL CAPACITY: 11,000 (MINUS CREW)

HISTORY GUIDE:

CFV-88 ORIGINALLY WAS A COLONY SHIP THAT ASSISTED THE EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF UNSC CONTROLLED WORLDS, SUCH AS COLONIZING THE WORLD OF VERENT. IN 2520, CFV-88 WAS ACQUIRED BY THE MILITARY AND REFITTED FOR SERVICE AS A SUPPORT SHIP. CFV-88 SAW ACTION DURING THE HUMAN-COVENANT WAR'S 'HARVEST CAMPAIGN' (2526-2531). SHORTLY AFTER ASSISTING WITH EVACUATIONS ON ARCADIA, THE SHIP WENT MISSING. CFV-88 WAS DECLARED 'LOST WITH ALL HANDS' ON FEBRUARY 10, 2534.

* * *

_**06.11.2534 UNSC CALENDER  
UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM  
UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE CFV-88**_

_/...Standby...\/...System Rebooting...\_

_/...Systems Check...\_

_/...Life Support-Online...\_

_/...Weapons Systems-Online...\_

_/...Engines-Online...WARNING-Slipspace Drive-Unavailable...\_

_/...Navigation-Online...\_

_/...Communications-Online...\_

_/...Hull Integrity-87%...\_

_/...All Systems Online...Booting Up AI SNA 1292-4 'SERINA'...\_

_/...WARNING-Unidentified Star System Scanned...\/...Civilization Detected...\_

_/...Commence Emergency Protocols...\_

_/...Begin Emergency Thaw Out Of Personnel...\_

* * *

**_06.11.2100 SA CALENDER  
SOL SYSTEM, IN ORBIT OF JUPITER  
SSV EINSTEIN-SSV-001_**

_/London-Command, this is SSV-Einstein\_

_/Go ahead, Einstein\_

_/Command, our long range scanners are picking up a large unidentified object just going past Saturn's orbit towards Jupiter. Be advised, object doesn't match with known celestial bodies, how copy?\_

_/Einstein, can you get a visual on the object?\_

_/Negative, Command, it should be entering visual range in approximately 20 mins\_

_/Roger, Einstein. Commence An Approach Vector Towards Object, Designate O-01, And Proceed To Observe And Sending Back Information\_

_/Roger, Command. SSV-Einstein, Out\  
_

* * *

**_HUMAN TIMELINE_**

04.12.1961-Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostock 1 becomes the first human to travel in space. Humanity becomes a spacefaring race.

07.20.1969-Apollo 11 lands on Luna. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Luna, and the first human to walk on an astronomical object other than Earth.

1991-Cold War ends with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

2001-2016-War on Terrorism, Middle East unites under the Arab League.

2018-Collapse of North Korea, Korea unified.

2020-2030-European Union formed, North American Republic formed, South American Coalition formed, Oceania formed

2050-The United Nations' leading superpowers, agreeing that Humanity's destiny lies in the stars, pool their collective resources and military manpower together and form the Human Systems Alliance, which will be the intergalactic political, scientific, and military branch of Humanity as a whole, as well as expand humanity by forming colonies on other planets in the Sol System and other star systems.

07.20.2069-Systems Alliance found Humanity's first colony, Armstrong Outpost, on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

2070-2075-The Manswell Expedition to Alpha Centauri

2080-System Alliance commissions its first interplanetary vessel capable of traveling across the Sol System, the 200 meter Einstein-Class Science Vessel, SSV Einstein.

2085-The Systems Alliance now fields 5 of the Einstein-Class vessels, which help speed up the exploration of the Sol System for suitable colonies.

2092-Plans are put in place to build the Alliance's first military vessel.

2100-Present Day.

* * *

**And now our Story begins... (Dramatic Star Trek theme plays... or Star Wars whichever you prefer) ;P**

**As you can see a bit of a different beginning For the Systems Alliance and they already have a spacecraft but no FTL drive. We're having the beginning of mass effect humans be a little different. Anyway enjoy.**


	2. Were You Expecting Little Green Men?

**I don't own Halo or Mass Effect**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

_**06.11.2534 UNSC Calendar  
Uncharted Star System  
UNSC Spirit of Fire-=-CFV-88**_

Silence. That's all she heard, At first. But she knew better than to just assume that nothing was going on. She already knew that they were on a collision course with a celestial body. An easily solved problem, but not the only one they had at the moment. She scanned over the information and discovered some interesting details. First off, they were heading for a moon orbiting the planet, a gas-giant with rings. What struck her as odd is that they looked incredibly familiar. They looked almost like... No, it couldn't be, but it was. Saturn. They were home. But something was wrong. She needed to awaken the crew. A holographic screen popped in front of her, to which she proceeded to type in the commands.

_/Commence Thaw Out Of Key Personnel\_

* * *

_**Cryogenic Deck A1**_

The Cryogenic Decks, where every one of the Spirit of Fire's Cryo-Pods were stationed at, roared to life as thousands of pods began the process of thawing out. One pod, CP-00001, was already thawed out, though had yet to open. The man inside, tall, lean build, with black hair that was graying, and a wrinkled face that showed his 48 year age, slowly stirred awake. _'C__aptain, wake up. Something has happened.' _He heard over the intercoms. Captain James Gregory Cutter awoke and looked outside from within the pod. He groaned, "Where are we, Serina?" Nearby on a holo-pedestal, a hologram appear, showing itself as a young woman with long hair, with a slender body covered by a lab coat. Serina spoke up, "Well, we're in a star system. But, the star system is odd. In truth, it'll be better if you see for yourself."

Captain Cutter looked around at the other crew members who were stepping out of their own pods. He adjusted his uniform, making sure there were no wrinkles and that he looked presentable to the rest of his crew. After finishing this, he proceeded to the elevator to take him up to the bridge. Serina popped up on the holo-pedestal inside the elevator. The elevator doors closed and ascended up to the bridge. "So, enjoy your nap?" Serina joked. Cutter loosened up his stance and sighed, "How long were we out?" Was the war still going on? Had Humanity won? Was there even a Humanity left? "3 years, 3 months, and 14 days." Her reply brought him out of his deep thought. 3 years? That didn't sit right with him. It meant either two things. One, they were far, far away from friendly territory. Or, the war was going badly and they could spare manpower searching.

"Someone should have found us by now." He said, narrowing his eyes.

_**Bridge**_

"Someone did," Came Serina's reply, catching his attention once more. " A small vessel, about 200 meters in length, is approaching us, from about 70,000 km. We should be getting a visual in about 15 minutes." The elevator reached the bridge, the doors opening to reveal people manning the various stations of the bridge. In the center was a large holo-pad, where Serina's hologram was present along with a model of what Captain Cutter could only assume was their curious visitor. "Is it Covenant?"

"Negative, at least, I don't think so. It doesn't match any known Covenant configurations. Plus, according to the data, it has only four low caliber weapons." a technician spoke, typing in and observing new information on a handheld data-pad. "Four weapons? Can't possibly be a military vehicle. It must a science or civilian vessel." One of the Ensigns spoke from the communications panels. "We don't know that for certain, however i would put money on that suggestion, Captain. If I had any." Serina stated, observing the model on the holo-pad.

"In any rate, get the secondary weapons up and running. What the status of the MAC?" Cutter spoke. Better safe than sorry if they turned out to be hostile. Considering their situation, he was seriously hoping they weren't. "Sir, MAC gun is good to go, but we'll need to warm it up first." The weapon-master spoke from the weapons panels. Cutter nodded, "Good. Go ahead and warm it up." He turned to the hologram of the unknown ship, "And lets just hope we get lucky."

Realizing something, he turned to Serina and asked, "Where is Professor Anders?"

* * *

_**Cryogenic Deck A2  
CP-04720**_

She felt weightless. Adrift in a sea of emptiness. She could hear... something, someone speaking to her. But she couldn't hear them. It was almost a mere whisper in the wind. She tried to concentrate on the voice, but couldn't make it out any better. This wasn't a normal dream.

She was suddenly bombarded with images. Images of creatures fighting monstrous abominations, heavily outnumber and being overwhelmed, despite the fact they killed scores of the monsters with beam-like weapons. She quickly realized the monstrous creatures were Flood forms. Numerous images of the creatures fighting the flood on numerous worlds and in space.

She could hear a voice whispering, "...easure failed to contain the Flood, my creators were forced to use their weapons of last resort to cleanse the galaxy of them. The Halo Arrays."

The images changed to an enormous space battle, a clash of forces, though one side's ships had strange organic growths covering them. She could only assume this was the Flood. Millions of ships were involved, firing back at one another. Dozen of explosions were going off every second. Suddenly in the distant space, a great flash of light formed and expanded outward engulfing everything in its path, including the armada of ships battling.

"But this is no longer you or your companions' concern."

The image changed to a different part of space. A small planet could be seen. She recognized it as the Sol System's Pluto, but Charon was missing. In its place, was a strange machine, two large curved metal arms. These arms surrounded a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings that had a glowing, blue core. It was the largest artificial object she had ever seen, even larger than a Covenant Assault Carrier, which were upwards of 6 kilometers long. This 'fork' was easily 2 or 2 and a half times as large.

"What is it?" She asked. "A technology that will lead to this galaxy's humans to a path of stagnation." several voices whispered.

She then saw a different image. A photo of a planet under siege. People were fleeing from metallic abominations, soldiers fighting the metal monsters. And then, the shook, and a colossal roar was heard, belong to a monstrous ship or machine, she wasn't even sure. It looked like a gigantic squid. It raised two of its 'arms', revealing a glowing red eye that burned brightly and fired a molten beam down on the soldiers below. "And to their extinction." the voices continued. "But you and your ship, your technology... _our technology_ will change their destiny. This _Galaxy's_ destiny."

She looked around as the scene faded away. "Who are you?' she finally asked. She was met with silence. She looked around. "...Hello?"

Suddenly, she was assaulted with a thousand voices at once, screaming at the top of their lungs, making her clutch her head in agony, "NOW FREED FROM MY PRISON, THE CHAINS ARE CAST ASIDE, AND MY OWN FATE IS RETURNED TO MY HANDS! I AM MENDICANT BIAS, AND THE ATONEMENT OF MY SINS BEGINS NOW! HUMANITY'S PATH TO THE MANTLE SHALL NOT BE STOPPED! THE RECLAMATION OF THE FORERUNNER'S LEGACY HAS BEGUN! AND THE REAPERS WILL BE POWERLESS TO STOP IT!"

The voices stopped screaming, much to her relief. Before everything faded to black, she heard the voice spoke one last time, "I leave the rest to you, Ellen Anders."

* * *

_**06.11.2100 SA Calendar**_**_  
Saturn Orbit, En Route To O-01  
SSV Einstein-SSV-001  
Bridge_**

The Systems Science Vessel 'Einstein' (SSV-001) was Humanity's first interplanetary spacecraft capable of traveling throughout the Sol System. The 200 meters, angular sloped designed vessel was the pride of Humanity, representing just how far Humanity has come in just the past 100 years alone. She was by no means a military vessel. Granted, the four 200mm dual-railguns that were placed along the ships sides were powerful, but were more for keeping stray comets and asteroid bits away from the hull.

_'But this thing isn't an Asteroid.' _The captain of the vessel thought. Captain Nicu Pavlenco was a fairly built man, roughly 5'10", 150 pounds. His skin was lightly tanned, with red hair and green eyes. The 42 year old Romanian joined the Alliance navy when he was 20 years old, and to this day he still considers it one of the best choices he ever made. The Alliance military gave him a purpose in life he didn't have before. And now he may very well be the first human to explore an alien object. Weather this would help humanity or be the beginning of their downfall, he didn't know.

But there was only on way to find out.

"How much longer, Helmsmen?" He asked, his Romanian accent thick but clear enough to understand. "We should be entering visual range in about 5 minutes, Captain." Came the reply. He turned over to another officer on the bridge. "Ensign Holmes, what's the status of the probes we launched?" Ensign Rebecca Holmes surveyed the video feed from the two exploratory probes they launched ahead of them. Removing a loose strain of her blonde hair from in front of her light brown eyes, she turned from the screens and spoke, "Sir, probes will be with in visual in 30 seconds."

"Sir, scanners are picking up activity from the object. Electronic activity. Looks like O-01 is artificial in nature after all." Another Officer, a Chief Petty Officer, spoke up from another panel. Pavlenco nodded at the new information as the situation developed. "Bring the guns to bare and ready to fire, just in case." The Petty Officer in charge of the weapons system responded with, "Yes, Sir." and rotated the four dual-railguns towards the front where O-01 was. Both men knew that in all actuality, the guns would do little to save them if this thing turned out to be hostile. But Pavlenco wasn't going to go down without a fight, if he had any say.

Stepping up next to the Captain, Lieutenant Conrad Hackett looked over to his Commanding Officer, wonder how the man could stay so calm in this situation. Conrad had joined the Alliance Military 10 years ago, to support his new family. 5'11", 170 pounds, with black hair and piercing blue eyes. With a wife and a newborn child currently on the way, he wasn't too happy about being here at the moment but understood the significance of their mission. He finally spoke up to the Captain, "Penny for your thoughts, Sir?"

Captain Pavlenco looked over to the Lieutenant, smiling, and half-joked, "Just hoping we don't get blown to kingdom come on a possible first contact." Both men chuckled, even though they both realized that was a strongly possible outcome. Humanity had always been fascinated with the idea of aliens and life on other planets, but no-one on the SSV-Einstein realized that what was about to happen next, would send ripples throughout the rest of Human history.

"Probes entering visual range in three, two, one.." Ensign Holmes spoke, gaining the attention of the crew. "Put it on the large screen, Ensign." The Captain spoke, wanting to see what this thing was finally. When the large screen flipped on, what Nicu Pavlenco saw next left him speechless.

On the screen was a massive ship, blocky but with some angled sloops to it. If he had to guess, the ship was at least two kilometers long, probably longer, he just knew it dwarfed his ship. As a career military man, he could already tell this was a warship of some kind, noticing several gun emplacements on the side. He could see lights blinking and some illumination on what he assumed were decks. _'Okay so definitely not derelict, time to try and initiate contact.' _Captain Pavlenco thought, trying his best to calm himself. "Steady yourself. We've planned and trained for scenarios like this. Comms, prepare First Contact package. Helmsmen, keep our current course steady." He spoke aloud, gaining the attention of the crew and motioning them to continue manning their stations. "Captain?" Holmes spoke up. "What is it, Ensign?" He replied, but she was simply looking at the screen. He followed her gaze and what he saw next left him speechless.

More of the massive ship came out of the darkness, revealing letters on the side. _English_ letters that read out:

**UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE-CFV-88  
**

* * *

_**UNSC Spirit Of Fire  
Bridge**_

"What do you mean we're in the Sol System, but there's no UNSC transponders being picked up?" Cutter asked dumbfounded. Serina had just told him that they were back home in the Sol System, but she couldn't pick up any UNSC signals. "It's exactly how I told you sir. It's like the UNSC doesn't existed here." She stated, looking over the data in front of her. Cutter couldn't deny what the data was showing in front of him. They were in the Sol System and in Saturn's orbit, but there was no sign of the UNSC anywhere in system. And to top it off, they had an unknown vessel approaching them. Granted, it was smaller, but Cutter knew first hand size wasn't everything.

"Serina, tap into the enemy ship, see if you can get some information on our 'neighbors'." The Captain barked out. "Already have, Sir. And I've got some information on our 'neighbors' that we'll all find interesting." The ships AI replied, showing numerous data streams up on the holo-pad. "Sir, I'd like to introduce you to the Human Systems Alliance."

Captain Cutter arched an eyebrow. "The what?"

A large projection appeared on the Holo-pad. Serina began, "Apparently, for them the year is 2100, according to our neighbor's data banks that i hacked into. In the year 2050, the leading Superpowers of the United Nations pooled their resources together and formed the Human Systems Alliance, basically their version of the UNSC. These Humans have a small colony on Luna, but nothing else, so their just in the earliest stages of colonization. As I said before, we are at Earth, just not the one we're familiar with." She finished, projecting more data onto the holo-pad.

* * *

_/Systems Alliance-Earth\_

_/Founded: 04.11.2050\_

_/Government: Democracy\_

_/Population: 11.07 Billion\_

_/Total Military Manpower: 46.23 Million\_

_/Total Number of Space-Faring Ships: 20\_

_/Colonies: 1 (Luna, 'Armstrong City')\_

* * *

Cutter looked over the data again and again, his min still trying to process the fact that there was another Earth, with another group of humans. "Captain, orders?" One of the Officers spoke. Cutter went over their options in his head. One option was to continue trying to contact the UNSC, which he was starting to question if they even existed anymore, and hope they picked up. Option two, which was not at all an option, was fight. They could be hostile for all he knew. Then there was option three, join forces, which could be considered traitorous by the UNSC, but he saw no better option for the guaranteed safety of his crew.

After minutes of postulating options and choices he could make, Captain Cutter made his decision.

"Even if it's not the UNSC, we're still bound by our duty to defend Earth and her Colonies. Open comms with the ship." Cutter ordered finally. The crew immediately went about with their assignments. While many of them were questioning the legitimacy of this whole scenario and what was going on, none of them dared question the Captain's orders. He was one of the few people who had their complete trust and loyalty.

Captain Cutter could only hope now he was making the right choice.

* * *

_**SSV-Einstein  
**__**Bridge**_

The name read out in head over and over again, and he couldn't take his eyes off what he was seeing. **UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE-CFV-88. **Hackett couldn't get over what he was seeing. Plain English text and numerical. But how? That shouldn't be possible for these aliens to know English. But then again, they could have been studying Humanity for a while, learning the dialects and cultures. But _Spirit of Fire_? Seemed a little fancy and showy for a name.

"Captain, we're being hailed." Ensign Holmes spoke. "By who?" She turned and looked her Captain in the eyes, "The xeno-ship, sir." Everyone stopped and held their collective breath. This was it, First Contact with an alien race. After a short pause, Captain Pavlenco spoke up, "Patch it through." The moment of truth was here.

A few seconds of silence filled the air before a voice spoke up through the intercoms, 'SSV-Einstein,_ this is the UNSC Spirit of Fire, we come in peace, over.'_ Cheers erupted from the bridge as they received the sudden message_. _Captain Pavlenco breathed out a sigh of relief, allowing a small trace of a smile to form on his lips. He walked over to the console and responded in kind, _'Spirit of Fire, this is the Captain of the SSV-Einstein, you have no idea how relieved we are to hear those words, over.' _He could hear a short chuckle on the other end, _'SSV-Einstein, completely understandable. SSV-Einstein, we're going to position ourselves so we can have our ships side by side, over.'_

The Captain of the Alliance Vessel looked away for a second, deep in thought, before turning back to the console, _'Spirit of Fire, do you mind if I ask how you speak English so well? You speak it better than some of my own people, over.' _He half joked on the last part, but was rather curious to how they speak English so well. There was some silence of the other end for a while before a voice spoke up. _'SSV-Einstein, can you keep a secret, over?' _Pavlenco pondered this for a few seconds, before deciding to humor the Xeno-Captain, _'It depends on the secret, Captain. What is your secret, over?'_

_'Because the reason I speak English so well, is because we're human beings.'  
_

* * *

**_9th Age of Reclamation  
Uncharted Star System, Near Garden World  
51,000 Light Years From Sol System_**

In a Star System far from any Civilization, laid a Garden World, fourth planet from the star in system, and with two moons orbiting it. Vast continents covered in lush red forests and gigantic bright blue oceans spanned the planet. It was a beautiful planet just waiting for someone to come and claim it as their own. And that day was now. In the space around the planet, multiple white dots popped into existence, small and insignificant at first glance, but anyone in the UNSC would tell you otherwise what nightmare was to come next. The small dots expanded into massive swirling portals, revealing themselves to be the notorious Slipspace Ruptures of the most infamous enemy humanity had ever face.

Out of one of the voids came the figure of a massive Covenant Assault Carrier, the CAS Walk of Divinity.

6 kilometers of fury and death, the Covenant Assault Carriers were the mainstay Capital Ships of the Covenant Navy. Equipped with multiple Pulse Laser Turrets, Plasma Torpedo launchers, and two of the infamous Energy Projectors, Assault Carriers are the bane of any UNSC commander. Capable of carrying tens of thousands of soldiers into battle. In other words, a single Assault Carrier can launch an invasion of a planet and have enough troops to hold ground until reinforcements arrive.

At the moment, however, the CAS Walk of Divinity was in no condition to fight at the moment, for it and everyone of the over 100 ships that arrived through the portals were heavily damaged and/or on fire in some places.

**Bridge**

_"What is the status of the fleet?" _A large and imposing Sangheili Fleetmaster spoke to his crew in his native tongue. He was over 8 feet tall, and weighed a good 350 pounds. His dark grey skin glistened in the light of the Bridge. But he wasn't in a good mood. Fleetmaster Hurok Wattinree had just watched 200 ships get destroyed by one human ship. _One. _He was furious not only with that damned Human Admiral, but also himself for not seeing such a blatant and obvious trap. And his soldiers had paid the price for his poor judgement. An emergency Slipspace jump had been the only thing that had saved them. He roared in rage, _"Damn you, ADMIRAL COLE!" _

_"Fleetmaster, I have the status for our surviving fleet, as requested." _One of the Sangheili Officers spoke, informing the Fleetmaster of the task completion. Hurok walked over to the Officer and nodded, before looking at the holo-pad's projection.

_/First Fleet of the Divine Fury\_

_/Total Ships: 156\_

_/Numbers Based On Class:  
_

_CAS Assault Carrier: 4_

_ORS Heavy Cruiser: 17 (1 Total Loss)_

_Battleships: 20 (Warning, All Crews Are Reporting That All But 5 Battleships Are Total Losses And Should Be Scrapped.)_

_CPV Heavy Destroyer: 30 (2 Total Losses)_

_CCS Battlecruiser: 40 (5 Total Losses)_

_SDV Heavy Corvette: 18_

_Agriculture Ships: 24 (2 Total Losses)_

_Warning, All Ships Have Moderate To Severe Damage. Recommend Immediate Refit And Repair.\_

_/Total Number Of Soldiers: 32,750,000 (Excluding Lekgolo and Huragok)_

_Unggoy: 16,450,000  
_

_Kig-Yar: 9,750,000_

_Sangheili: 6,550,000_

_/Alert. Habitable Planet Nearby. Recommend Takeover And Temporary Colonization In Order To Repair Fleet.\_

After reading over the information, the Fleetmaster turned to his left and spoke, _"Auburn Harmony, contact home command and alert them of our situation." _The AI of the Divinity appeared on the pad, its avatar being nothing more than glowing blue orb, which illuminated when it spoke, _"Negative, I am unable to contact our superiors." _Horuk narrowed his reptilian eyes in annoyance. He had lost over two thirds of his fleet and the last thing he was wanting to deal with was a defiant AI. _"Explain, Harmony."_

_"I cannot detect any Covenant Transponders or Communications Relays. It is as if our Covenant has vanished into thin air."_ The AI's response confused Horuk. The Covenant vanished? Impossible. The Covenant Empire spans over 800 Star Systems, boasts a combine population of tens of billions from seven different races, and has thousands of ships and billions of warriors. How could such a massive Empire up and vanish? But that could wait. Right now, Several Million Soldiers needed guidance. _"Open a fleet wide tramission. Order all ship to the planet to begin refitting and repairs." _Hurok didn't know what was going on with the inability to contact the rest of the Covenant, but he knew one thing.

The Covenant would rise again.

* * *

_**HUMAN TIMELINE**_

06.11.2100-SSV Einstein makes contact with the UNSC Spirit of Fire. The Board of Directors are alerted to the information almost immediately after contact is made. Captain Cutter stats that he will tell them everything if he is allowed an audience with the President and the rest of Parliament. The President decides to allow the meeting.

06.11.2100-Professor Ellen Anders is found unconscious right outside of her Cryo-pod, and is taken to medical immediately. She wakes up 2 days later, but doesn't remember what happened to cause her to collapse. She is medically screened and declared healthy and mentally fit for duty and released from medical.

06.18.2100-1 week later, UNSC Spirit of Fire makes it to Earth. Upmost secrecy is kept about the ship's existence, with the entire crew of the SSV-Einstein taking an Oath of Secrecy. A cover story is made that the science vessel was exploring Saturn's moons for possible future colonization. UNSC personnel are greeted to an Earth different from their own.

06.19.2100-Captain Cutter and several other high ranking personnel, including Ellen Anders, of the UNSC meet the President of the System Alliance, President Carlos Santiago, along with Parliament. During the meeting, Captain Cutter, Professor Anders, and AI Serina explain the history of the UNSC, from the Rainforest Wars, the invention of the Slipspace Drive, the Insurrectionist Movement, The Covenant War, which causes some concern for the Board as they grow concerned for the possibility of a hostile first encounter. After explaining the history of the UNSC, and Parliament debating on what to do with this new information and technology, Captain Cutter request that the Spirit of Fire and her personnel be integrated into the System Alliance Military so they can continue to defend Earth and her colonies. President Santiago agrees to this proposal, realizing the incredible gift they've been bestowed and the potential it could give Humanity.

06.21-08.05.2100-The UNSC Spirit of Fire commences with repair to the hull from damage sustained in a previous engagement, while Alliance personnel go through and study the advance technology of the ship while AI Serina provides Alliance Scientists the theories of Slipspace travel, the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and the Orbital Defense Platform, along with multiple technologies and industial/political doctrines that will help the Alliance run more smoothly and efficiently. The technological leap jumps humanity forward by almost 300 years. The only problem is that the Alliance doesn't have the basic materials or concept of Slipspace in order to build a workable drive.

2100-The Alliance Military is unsure of what do about Spartan RED team, so it is decided that all but the highest ranking members of Military and Parliament will be kept in the dark about their existence. They are to remained stationed on the Spirit of Fire, and are only called up for the most secretive of missions.

08.15.2100-The SSV-Spirit of Fire 'Dreadnought' and SSV-Athens Frigate, an 420 meter war ship and the Alliance's actually warship they had been constructing, is announced to the world as Humanity's first military space vessel. The ships are received with mostly positive feedback.

Mid-2102-2105-SSV Spirit of Fire assists in the founding of Mars' first colonies, Lowell City, Halvo Bay, and New Geneva. With the vast knowledge of terraforming, SSV Spirit of Fire also preforms minor terraforming operations in the Atmosphere and North Pole of the red planet, melting the ice caps and allowing Mars to become breathable within a few years, along with the ability to support minor plant life.

2102-2103-The first of multiple Orbital Drydocks are commissioned to build up humanity's fleet of future starships. Over a Dozen more stations are in various stages of completion.

Early-2102-After multiple testing on the designs in comparison to home made designs, several UNSC weapons are adopted into the Alliance Military, including the MA5, M392 DMR, M90, and the SRS99C-AM. Other designs from the UNSC are still going through testing and reverse-engineering.

Early-2102-Instead of incorporating the design into the Alliance Military, R&amp;D decides to use the Scorpion MBTs as a test bed and a starting point for new designs to replace the aging M3A3 "Custer" MBT. The Alliance Military, however, decide to incorporate the M12 'Warthog' into their Military forces.

Early-2102-The Longsword Fighter-Bomber are sent to R&amp;D to study and use as a starting point for future designs models, while the Pelican Dropships are adopted into the Alliance Military, and are approved for mass-production. All Athens-Class Frigates will carry at least 4 Pelicans for rapid response and deployment of Marine forces.

Early-2103-Several Mining Colonies are set up on Saturn's Moon Titan and Jupiter's Moon Callisto to mine the heavy metals that will be needed for future ships and colonies.

Early-Mid-2103-Three more Athens-Class Frigate is commissioned, the SSV-Cairo, Sydney, and Buenos Aires. 15 more are planned for the forseeable future and are expected to stay in service for at least 20 years.

Mid-2103-Alliance Military count has surpassed 50 million in all branches. Alliance R&amp;D have commissioned several naval designs, including frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and colony ships. Military HighCom agree that the Spirit of Fire will probably be their only 'Dreadnought' for several years. Wanting to expand their domain, Alliance Command decides to focus on colony ships, then military vessels.

Late-2103-UNSC AI Serina begins to fall into the early stages of AI Rampancy and ,with some sadness from the UNSC Personnel, is decommissioned. Out of respect, her name is added to a wall dedicated to all the Spirit of Fire personnel who have lost their lives in service of Humanity. The walls current count is 1,417. Her core processor is studied by Alliance R&amp;D so they can build AIs of their own in the future.

Early-2104-The first of the Odysseus-Class Colony Ships, the SSV-Odysseus, roughly 1200 meters in length, is commissioned by the Alliance Navy. Unlike the old UNSC Colony ships, Odysseus-Class are equipped with several missile and guns emplacements on the side to double as a Support Ship, capable of transporting large numbers of Marines to assault planets. Each ship is to be equipped with at least 20 Pelican dropships.

Early-2104-An prototype of the UNSC's Slipspace drive is finished and ready for testing. The device is fitted onto an old Einstein-Class vessel, the Galileo, with UNSC personnel crewing the ship, due to their years of expertise with Slipspace technology. The test is commenced on the 11th of February. The Galileo commences to open a Slipspace Portal, which is suppose to take them to Jupiter, and proceeds to go through it. 29 seconds later, the Galileo reappears near Jupiter's moon, Europa. The mission is declared a resounding success in human technological advancement.

Early-Mid-2104-Following the success of the Galileo mission, several more test and improvements are made to the Slipspace drives over the next several months. Every Alliance ship 300 meters and over are equipped with a Slipspace drive. The drives are capable of 11 LYD (Light Years a Day). Millions sign up to become potential colonists as the Alliance prepare to send out ships to colonize local star systems.

09.04.2104-All five Odysseus-Class Colony Ships, with two Athens-Class each as escort and security, commence jumps to colonize nearby star systems, including Alpha Centauri B and Epsilon Eridani. 10 hours later, the SSV-Hercules, which was sent to colonize Alpha Centauri B, sends a message back to HighCom with one single sentence in the message. _/The Eagle Has Landed.\ _Humanity celebrates all across the Sol System as the Human race become an interstellar civilization, and more reports of successful colonization are reported through the rest of the week.

New Year-2105-Humanity has a total of 12 colonies throughout the Local Interstellar Cloud, the largest being Epsilon Eridani's 'Reach', a large garden world with an atmosphere perfect for human habitation. Other notable colonies are Alpha Centauri B's 'Columbus', a fairly large planet still being terraformed for a breathable and habitable atmosphere, and Sirius' 'Terra Nova', another garden world.

Early-2105-The first Alliance Destroyer, the SSV-Gettysburg, a 560 meter warship, is commissioned. More heavily armored and armed than the Athens-Class Frigates, the Gettysburg is also equipped with the first 'true' MAC guns built by the Alliance Military, 150 ton MAC guns based off the Spirit of Fire's own MAC gun. Each one is to be equipped with 8 Pelicans for Planetary Insertion of Marines.

Early-2105-Alliance Military commissions plans to develop their own ODST, and build up an ODST boot camp on Earth and Reach to create their own ODST core and commenced to design possible orbital insertion vehicles for transport of the ODST soldiers. The project is overseen by the UNSC's own ODST soldiers and is already showing much promise.

Mid-2105-A UNSC transponder signal is picked up by the Alliance originating from the Epsilon Indi A system. The SSV-Spirit of Fire, along with 4 Athens-Frigates, goes to investigate the signal.

* * *

SSV-ATHENS-CLASS FRIGATE (LIGHT SCREEN SHIP)

BUILT: 2100  
LENGTH: 420 M  
WIDTH: 150 M  
HULL ARMOR: 0.5 M OF TITANIUM-A COATED WITH TUNGSTEN  
ARMAMENT:  
2 MINI-MAC (50 TONS)  
32 50MM POINT DEFENSE GUNS  
16 100MM DECK GUNS  
12 ATAF MISSILE PODS  
FTL DRIVE: ALLIANCE 'HELIOS' SLIPSPACE DRIVE  
ENGINE: 4 THRUSTER UNITS  
NAVAL PERSONNEL: 700  
MAXIMUM PERSONNEL CAPACITY: 4,000 (EXCLUDING CREW)

* * *

SSV-GETTYSBURG-CLASS DESTROYER (HEAVY SCREEN SHIP)

BUILT: 2105  
LENGTH: 560 M  
WIDTH: 220 M  
HULL ARMOR: 1.2 M OF TITANIUM-A COATED WITH TUNGSTEN  
ARMAMENT:  
1 ALLIANCE MAC GUN (150 TONS)  
40 50MM POINT DEFENSE GUNS  
20 100MM DECK GUNS  
18 ATAF MISSILE PODS  
FTL DRIVE: ALLIANCE 'HELIOS' SLIPSPACE DRIVE  
ENGINE: 4 THRUSTER UNITS  
NAVAL PERSONNEL: 950  
MAXIMUM PERSONNEL CAPACITY: 5,500 (EXCLUDING CREW)

* * *

SSV-ODYSSEUS-CLASS COLONY/SUPPORT SHIP

BUILT: 2104  
LENGTH: 1200 M  
WIDTH: 400 M  
HULL ARMOR: 2 M OF TITANIUM-A COATED WITH TUNGSTEN  
ARMAMENT:  
40 50MM POINT DEFENSE GUNS  
30 100MM DECK GUNS  
22 ATAF MISSILE PODS  
FTL DRIVE: ALLIANCE 'HELIOS' SLIPSPACE DRIVE  
ENGINE: 6 THRUSTER UNITS  
NAVAL PERSONNEL: 1,200  
MAXIMUM PERSONNEL CAPACITY: 10,000 (EXCLUDING CREW)

* * *

**And that's it for Chapter One, hope you guys liked it. I would also like to go ahead and point out somethings that will be different from the Canon. First off The MAC gun's strength as followed.  
50 ton Mini-MAC: 150 km/s with a KE of 134.44 Kilotons of TNT  
150 ton MAC: 100 km/s with a KE of 179.25 Kilotons of TNT  
300 ton MAC: 75 km/s with a KE of 201.66 Kilotons of TNT  
600 ton MAC: 60 km/s with a KE of 258.13 Kilotons of TNT  
3000 ton Super-MAC (ODP): 12000 km/s with a KE of 5.1625e7 Kilotons of TNT  
The MAC guns are now faster in terms of projectile speed, except for the Super MAC. Basically, the Alliance have an armor and firepower advantage over others, while the council has speed and rate of fire.**

**Second off, Master Chief will not make an appearance in this story. There are enough of those stories where he gets sent to the mass effect universe, and dont get me wrong, most of them are very well written (Im looking at you, THE LAST SPARTAN, great story go check it out.) but I'm honestly tired of reading those, so I'm going with a different approach to the Halo/Mass Effect crossover. I'm still debating if Jorge will make an appearance or not.**

**Third off, the Flood will also more than likely not make an appearance in this story. This is the Mass Effect Galaxy, the Reapers are the main villians, not the Flood.**

**Fourth off, as you could see, the Covenant will be in this story as well, and I think the fans will like what's going to be done with them, especially when they have their first contact with a certain Citadel race. (Give you a hint, it's not one of the Ruling races ie Turians, Asari, Salarians.)**

**Also, I would like to point out that Humanity will not have contact with the other races for quite some time, so these chapters will be several stories going on at the same time in the Galaxy.**

**Anyway enough rambling, hope you enjoy the story.**


	3. A Legend's Return And Making Friends

**Hey guys, Azores here. Just wanna say thank you for all your support and wanted to point something out real quick. First off, Thank you very much for the massive amount of support you've given. Secondly, I would like to address a couple things brought up in the reviews.**

**Firstly, the founding of the Systems Alliance is different than from the Canon, you would notice this if you read the first chapter's timeline.**

**Secondly, you guys are completely right about the time it takes to build ships and such, my bad. (lol) I'll make sure this doesn't happen in the future and try to be more realistic with ship building. But don't expect the ships to take 9 years to build or so lol, we're on a bit of a time table for first contact.**

**Thirdly, one gentleman stated that i had my facts wrong about the speed in which the MAC round fires. You are correct, it does travel at 30000 meters a sec. Meters. There are 1000 meters in a kilometer. 30000 meters. 30 kilometers. Very slow compared to the Council's Mass Accelerators, which you were correct about, my bad. However, compared to the MAC gun, those mass accelerators would gut UNSC ships before they could get a single shot off, which is why I increased the speed, but at the same time they're not ridicoulusly overpowered****.**

**But never the less, i still enjoyed the constructive criticism and always welcome it.**

* * *

**Anyway, back to the story. Enjoy.**

**I don't own Halo or Mass Effect**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

_/SYSTEMS ALLIANCE INFORMATION\_

_Total Number Of Ships: 35  
Athens-Class: 24  
Gettysburg-Class: 3  
Spirit of Fire-Class: 1  
Odysseus-Class: 7_

_Total Military Personnel: 51.47 Million_

_Total Number of Colonies: 14_

_Notable Colonies:_

_Epsilon Eridani: Reach (Garden World, developing to be Military Command of the Alliance, also large quantities of Titanium in system.)  
Alpha Centauri B: Columbus (Terraforming)  
Sirius: Terra Nova (Garden World)  
Luhman 16: Jarvis 1 (Mining World, with large metal deposits.)_

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
****Epsilon Indi A system  
**_**_SSV-Spirit of Fire_**

"Exiting Slipspace in 5, 4, 3, 2..." The Navigations Officer spoke as the Spirit of Fire exited Slipspace and entered the Epsilon Indi System. Rear Admiral Cutter looked at the holographic projection of the Epsilon Indi System. It was different from the one he was familiar with. The lack of planet Harvest, for starters, replaced with an light orange colored planet, two other rocky planets, and a few gas giants. It would be right at about this point that Serina would pipe in with a joke. He allowed himself to think back on the long gone AI. Like many others, James had also been saddened by the death of Serina, even though he had accepted its inevitability long ago.

But it didn't make it any less painful to lose a family member.

He buried these thoughts. He had a job to do. He could reminisce on the past later. "Ensign, where's the signal coming from?" Cutter spoke up. If this really was UNSC, then maybe home wasn't gone. Maybe it was still out there, waiting for them to return. For some reason, though, he had his doubts.

Ensign Holmes had been reassigned to the Spirit of Fire after the Einstein was decommissioned. She never dreamed she would be working on the Pride of the Alliance Fleet. When she first met Rear Admiral Cutter, she had never been as intimidated by an Officer as she had when approached her. His approached had shown one of authority and pride. But he had turned out to be a polite and genuinely caring Commander, even if he was a little strict when it came to maintaining crew discipline.

"Sir, the signal is coming from the orbit of the Gas Giant closest to the star. We should be able to reach it in roughly 35 minutes." She replied to her CO. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she typed in new info and data on the star system as she received it from the other Alliance ships.

Affirmative, Captain. Proceed with reconnaissance of planet for future colonization efforts, over.'"Good. Navs, set a course for the object. SSV-Boston, Sydney, and Johannesburg, I want you on our flanks and front, standard screen, over." Cutter barked out the orders. Three replies of _'Yes, sir.' _came up over the comms.

_'SSV-Spirit of Fire, this is Captain Hackett of the Minsk, requesting permission to commence scouting mission to the third planet for possible colonization in the future, over.'_

Admiral Cutter pondered this for a moment. Despite the massive jump in and relative ease of transition to the new technology, the Systems Alliance almost went bankrupt with the amount of spending it had done in the past five years. The inflation of the Systems Dollar, luckily, had only gone up by 11%, which wasn't as terrible as some had feared it would, but dissent and the occasional protest from unhappy citizens were still present. Luckily, it had been dying down in the past few months. Despite all this, the Alliance Parliament decided that they should cut back on the massive spending spree and build up what they already have aquired. Therefore, colonization of new planets would have to wait. That didn't mean private corporations wouldn't colonize new worlds, but the Alliance was on hold for the moment.

But Admiral Cutter always did like how Hackett was eager to prove himself. He had a lot of promise.

Conrad Hackett had been promoted to Captain only two years ago, after showing incredible potential and results during several war game simulation and during an attack by a terrorist cell in London who were trying to assassinate members of Parliament. It had only been stopped by the timely arrival of Hackett and a platoon of Marines. He had been up for consideration beforehand, but after the Geneva Incident, and recommendation by Cutter and now Rear Admiral Pavlenco, who were both promoted to Rear Admiral 2 years after 'first contact', pretty much sealed the deal, and he was promoted and given his own ship.

"Affirmative, Captain. Proceed with reconnaissance of planet for future colonization efforts, over."_  
_

_'Roger, Minsk's setting course for third planet to commence reconnaissance, ETA 49 minutes, out.'_

The Minsk sped off from the formation. Admiral Cutter turned back to the Holo-pad's projection of the Gas Giant. It was massive, large than Jupiter, with 3 moons orbiting it. He could see the location of the transponder signal, just in orbit of the second moon. "Alright, Weapons, warm up the MAC gun. Just in case." The Admiral ordered. He wasn't expecting anything to happen, but that didn't mean something wouldn't happen. Better safe than sorry.

"Let's just see what this is." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

_**9th Age Of Reclamation (05.23.2105)  
Unnamed Star System, Garden World  
51,000 Light Years From Earth**_

5 years. For 5 long years they waited. They rebuilt. Rearmed. And now, they were ready. Ready to spread the light of the Great Journey to all.

Hurok Wattinree stood on the bridge of his flagship, the CAS-Walk of Divinity, overlooking the holo-pad projections of the rebuilt Fleet of Divine Fury. All 141 ships of the once 400 strong fleet. The Fleetmaster, after observing and ensuring everything was in working order, spoke up, _"All ships, prepare for synchronized jump to the new star system. Mark the location of this star system for future reference."_

He turned to Auburn Harmony, _"Harmony, go over the data once more." _The AI had told him earlier today that it had picked up signals coming from a nearby star system about 6 light years from here. It appears that whoever was talking was very chatty. And now, Hurok was going to find out who it was that was being so chatty.

_"Approximately 4 hours ago, I detected communication signals in the neighboring star system. They do not match any known allied or hostile configurations. Recommended course of action is to investigate mystery signal and report back findings." _the AI replied to its commander.

Hurok turned back to his seat at the bridge, _"And investigate we shall." _His plan was to lead a small battle group of 15 ships and see who the owner of the mystery signal was. 1 Assault Carrier, 2 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Heavy Destroyers and 8 Battlecruisers. This should be more than enough to deal with anyone who tried to challange their authority and power.

15 Slipspace portals opened, and with a prayer to their gods, Fleetmaster Hurok and the Covenant Battle Group entered Slipspace to spread the light of the Covenant and the Great Journey.

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
**_**_Kandul System, Perseus Veil, Bordering the Terminus Systems  
51,000 Light Years From Earth_**

In a Binary Star System, a battle was raging over one of the five planets in the system. A group of some 45 Hegemony ships were attacking a force of 10 Quarian ships, 6 of which were already destroyed and the other three were being boarded. The last ship, the Hirule, a 600 meter Cruiser with engines destroyed and partial on fire, was mere minutes from being boarded by 4 different ships. Inside, the crew were setting up makeshift blockades in an attempt to get ready to fight off the invaders.

_"Damn them all! I'll make damn sure those Batarian bastards pay for every inch." _Spoke the Captain of the doomed vessel, grabbing and prepping a shotgun as the rest of the bridges crew set up barricades. The Alarei was a science vessel, not a warship. The only reason they were in this star system to begin with was to set up a listening post to spy on the Geth. Then, suddenly the Batarian Fleet showed up and started decimating the smaller Quarian Fleet. The Captain already knew what would happen if they were captured, and she would rather die first than be a slave.

Captain Kelan'Hamr vas Hirule knew first hand the Batarians love of slave labor. Her sister was kidnapped on her pilgrimage when she was barely 16, and Kelan was just 22. The now 30 year old Quarian was nervous and raked with fear, but she wasn't going down without a fight. She only hoped that 'Keelah' was watching out for them, and would give them a miracle of some sorts.

The ship shuddered as several boarding craft attached themselves to the hull. Seconds later, gunfire could be heard all across the ship. The battle had begun.

* * *

_**Batarian Fleet Flagship  
**__**Dreadnought 'Hegemony's Pride'**_

Admiral Kellrok was having a very good day. The fleet had been tracking the small Quarian Fleet for a couple of weeks, and now had them isolated in this star system. They had to destroy a few ships, but they were still going to get a good number of slaves from this. And the Council wouldn't know anything about it. Not that they would really care, considering it's the Suit Rats. And he had heard some things about Quarian Female physiology that he was dying to find out about. Oh yes, he was having a very good day.

_"Admiral, we've boarded the last ship. Some resistance, but nothing we can't handle, over." _A voice on the comms spoke up. _'Good,' _He thought, _'then we can return home with our bounty.'_

_"Sir, I'm picking up a multiple energy signatures nearby. Something's entering the system." _one of the officers spoke up. Good, more slaves. _"Wait, this can't be right. The energy signatures just keep getting bigger and bigger. Scans are already showing something over 5 km in length."  
_

The Admiral turned to the Officer, _"Impossible. No ship is that large, not even the Asari have anything that large. Are you drunk?" _His four eyes narrowed. The officer shook his head furiously, insisting otherwise and not wanting to face the Admiral's wrath. _"Bring our ships about. The other ships can take care of the Suit Rats themse... What the hell is that?" _He spoke, looking out the bridges viewport. He saw several small white dots in the black of space. They would of looked like distant stars, but he knew they weren't. In truth, they were only a few hundred meters away. They were beautiful in their own way, but that didn't explain his curiosity or what the hell they were. A curiosity that turned to shock when the dots expanded into massive white voids, and that turned to horror when several massive ships started to come out of them.

He screamed out for evasive maneuvers, but would never finish the sentence as the 1 km Batarian ship was crushed by the giant 6 km Covenant Assault Carrier.

* * *

_**CAS 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge**_

The whole ship shuddered slightly, which was barely felt by the crew on the bridge. The Sangheili Helmsman looked around for a second, then spoke up, _"I think we hit something." _Fleetmaster Hurok was thinking the same thing, but the reports stated that the collision hadn't even broken their shields, which were holding at 83%. He could see on the holo-pads that there were at least 50 ships, or the remains of some anyway, of various size and shape. There were two keys design differences which helped them be distinguished, along with different coloring.

One group of ships, the larger of the two fleets, had a dark red coloring for their ship hulls with a streak of gold on the tops of the vessels, and were sleek and angular in design. The other ships, of the smaller fleet, were light gray in color, with most having bulbous fronts followed by a narrow body. It appeared that they were fighting each other, question was, should he consider them a threat.

He leaned back in his Gravity Throne as he pondered this and the navigator's statement, _"So we did. Harmony, what are we looking at?" _he spoke to the AI. Auburn Harmony scanned the nearby ships and spoke, _"Scans commenced, please wait. ETA to scan completion of foreign ships, 5 minutes. ETA to language translation completion, 43.75 minutes due to multiple languages present."_

_"How many languages, Harmony?"  
_

_"10, Fleetmaster." _10? There was no way that many races were present before him. At any rate, he needed information on the aliens before him and now.

_"Prioritize them and focus on the ones present at the moment. Give me information on these beings. I want to know everything about them."  
_

_"Yes, Fleetmaster. ETA to completion of two priority languages, 8 minutes. Warning, energy spikes detected. Larger alien fleet maybe readying to fire."_

As if on Que, one of the bridge crewmen turned around and spoke, _"They're firing. Incoming projectiles." _The sides of several alien ships came alive with broadside guns firing into the Covenant warships, Mass Driver rounds slamming into the shields of the larger warships. Multiple rounds struck the Walk of Divinity's shields, but none of the rounds broke through to the Carrier's hull. This was the same case for the other Covenant vessels. Unimpressed and angered by this unprovoked attack, Fleetmaster Hurok replied in kind, _"All ships! Target the red ships and cleanse this system of their filth. Do not fire upon the gray vessels, yet. I have yet to decide their fate."_

He turned to the Weapons Station, _"Commence firing with Pulse Lasers and Plasma Turrets. Target their larger ships with the Plasma Torpedoes. Save the Energy Projector for later. Harmony, jam their communications. Don't even allow them to talk to each other." _The crew of the Weapons Station saluted and proceeded with their task at hand, while Auburn Harmony proceeded with the disruption of enemy communications, which took him less than 15 seconds to achieve. He looked back to the holo-pad in front of him, typed in a few commands and spoke, _"Launch our Seraph Fighters and achieve air supremacy. Let us burn these fiends into oblivion!"  
_

* * *

The Batarians fired away with everything they had, multiple rounds slamming into the shields of the Covenant Warships. Batarian Frigates fired their broadside Mass Drivers and GUARDIAN Lasers. Cruisers fired their own broadside Mass Drivers and missiles. The surviving two Dreadnoughts fell back to fire their main weapons, the Mass Accelerator Cannon. Due to the fact the weapon ran down the length of the Dreadnought's 'spine', meaning unless the target was directly in front of the gun, the Mass Accelerator Cannon is useless at close range. Batarian Fighters flew through space, launching missiles and firing their cannons at the massive Warships.

Despite the combined fire of nearly 50 ships and numerous Fighters, none of the Batarian Weapons were penetrating the Covenant Shields. Most of the Covenant ships' shields held at 40%. Now it was the Covenant's turn to reply in kind.

Multiple Plasma Turrets and Pulse Lasers came to life from the Covenant Warships, screaming towards the Batarian Ships. The Kinetic Barriers of the Batarians held only for a few seconds before giving way to the sheer volume of Plasma bolts. Plasma boiled the hulls of the ships, causing massive atmospheric venting and several ships to ignite and explode, while the Pulse Lasers cut through the Batarians like a knife through paper. A dozen ships went alight or exploded within ten seconds of the barrages opening. One ship laid dead in the water, its atmosphere been vented due to the bridge being directly hit with plasma fire.

Seraph Fighters exited the hangars of the Assault Carrier and engaged the Batarian Fighters in space. While fighting bravely against the giant (In comparison to their own fighters), the Seraphs were simply far superior and too numerous for the Batarian pilots to handle. The teardrop-shaped Fighters devastated the Batarians at every turn, their Heavy Plasma Cannons tearing apart the smaller fighters.

And the Covenant were far from done. With the Battlecruisers leading the charge, the Covenant fired away, with Plasma Turrets and Pulse Lasers cutting and boiling through the armor of the Batarian ships. Multiple Cruisers and Frigate went down in fiery infernos as the Covenant continued their onslaught. Within 1 minutes of the Covenant's counterattack, 23 of the Batarian Fleet's 45 were destroyed, most being Frigates, but also a third of the Cruisers were gone too. Within a few minutes, the Covenant Fighters had destroyed or routed the Batarian Fighters and had achieved Air Superiority.

And now, the Covenant were going to unleash another weapon. One made infamous for its use in the Human-Covenant War.

* * *

_"Fleetmaster, Plasma Torpedoes are ready to fire." _Spoke on of the crewmen of the Weapons Station. Fleetmaster Hurok leaned back in his Gravity Throne, _"Target their largest warships." _On screen, the retreating figures of the two Dreadnoughts, along with the remaining 10 Cruisers, were highlighted yellow.

_"Targets locked." _The Fleetmaster looked at the remnants of the Batarian Fleet before him, before speaking, _"Fire."_

The Walk of Divinty roared to life as a dozen massive blue orbs fired out the sides of the Assault Carrier, streaking towards their targets. The Batarians, thinking these were massive missiles being aimed towards them and not realizing what they really were, prepared their GUARDIAN lasers to take down the 'missiles'. When the Plasma Torpedoes entered the range of the Batarian Frigates, they opened fire.

To come to the horrid realization that their GUARDIAN Lasers had no effect on the purely Plasma-based weapons.

The Plasma Torpedoes went streaking past the Frigates, towards the Cruisers and Dreadnoughts. The larger ships desperately tried to evade the incoming projectiles, but to their horror, the Torpedoes actually traced and followed the fleeing ships. Despite the desperate evasive maneuvers of the Batarians, the Torpedoes continued towards their targets and slammed into the ships.

11 of the 12 Torpedoes connected with their targets. The results were instantaneous.

One Cruiser was struck in the engine and was set alight, engulfing the ship in an inferno of fire before exploding. Two more Cruisers were literally burned in half by the ordinance. A Dreadnought was gutted by the Plasma as it entered through the rear of the ship and burned its way to the bow's side. All the other target ships met similar fates, save for one lucky Cruiser that had the corpse of a slain Quarian ship intercept the shot. This gave the Cruiser precious seconds to escape and make a beeline to the star systems' Mass Relay. The Frigate, however, had no chance of escape due to their close proximity and were left to their fate.

The Covenant decided there would be no mercy today.

* * *

Fleetmaster Hurok Wattinree looked out at the destruction before him. The enemy had been utterly devestated, with most of their fleet in ruins. Their own ships had suffered no damage, though they did lose a couple dozen fighters. It appears that the enemy's AA gun system were somewhat decent in terms of fighting off aircraft. But nonetheless, the enemy was destroyed. His Battlecruisers and Heavy Destroyers were mopping up the last of their forces.

_"Fleetmaster, I have completed the scan of their databanks and translation the two languages." _Auburn Harmony spoke. The Fleetmaster turned from the battlescreen projections and turned his attention to the glowing orb hologram. _"Proceed. Who are they?"_

_"The larger fleet who engaged us are call Batarians, a bipedal race of four-eyed creature. Their civilization is called the Batarian Hegemony, a dictatorship-like government who maintain and control everything in their territory from news to even industry. They apparently don't trust private industries to manufacture weapons. They also use slaves to.."_

_"Slaves?!" _This genuinely shocked the Fleetmaster. While the Unggoy could be pointed out as not being much better, Hurok and many Sangheili actually had a modest level of respect for the Unggoy. He had been there during the Unggoy Rebellion and had seen what they could do and what they were capable of when they were motivated. In his eyes, the Unggoy were just as much soldiers as any other member of the Covenant, they simply just needed a little motivation now and again.

_"Yes, slave labor. It apparently is a part of their culture to use slave labor. They're not the most popular bunch in the galaxy for this and their aggressive nature towards other races, due to them apparently believing they're a master race of some sort. In fact, I'm_ 95.68%_ certain this is the reason they're here to begin with attacking the Quarians."_

_"Quarians?"_

_"Oh yes, apologies, Fleetmaster. The smaller fleet belongs to a race called the Quarians, a nomadic, bipedal race who have the largest collective fleet in the galaxy, numbering over 50,000 ships."_50,000? If Hurok had to confess, that was impressive. _"The reason for this nomadic life is due to the Quarians losing their homeworld, Rannoch, to a synthetic race of their own creation called the Geth. According to the databanks, the Geth rebelled against their creators and drove them off their homeworld some 300 years ago. Since then, they have travelled from system to system, mining and harvesting local resources in order to keep their fleet, and their species, alive. Despite galactic disdain for their involvement of the Geth and being viewed as no more than thieves and beggars, they are regarded as some of the best engineers in the Galaxy."_

This gave him pause. Best Engineers. The Covenant could use this to their advantage. The Huragok were without an equal, but they had barely 2,500 of the Forerunner's Legacies. These Quarians would be a massive boost to not only their military, but industrial capacity as well. He decided that an audience with the Quarians would be the best course of action. But first, he had to save them.

He turned back to the AI, _"I want our Heavy Cruisers to move in and secrue those Quarian ships. Deploy boarding parties to eliminate any Batarians on board those vessels." _On the holo-pad projections, the Heavy Cruisers were moving in towards the 4 burning and heavily damaged Quarian ships, each with a Batarian Frigate next to them. The Fleetmaster turned from the AI to the holo-pad projections.

_"Time to see if their warriors fair better then their ships."  
_

* * *

The Heavy Cruisers, with the Heavy Destroyers flanking them and having either bypassed or destroyed the remaining Batarian ships in their way. As they proceeded closer to the damaged Quarian ships, their sides came alive as dozens of Boarding Crafts exited and came screaming towards their targets. With no opposition from enemy aircraft and no AA defenses, the Boarding Craft all connected to the target ships and begun to offload their cargo.

Any Batarians left on these ships were now doomed.

* * *

Captain Kelan'Hamr vas Hirule fired her shotgun at a Batarian soldier, killing the hapless trooper. The damn slavers had cut off all power from the engines save for life support. She had no idea what was going on outside the ship or in other sections of the ship even. As far as they knew, they were the last pocket of resistance on the ship and were only delaying the inevitable. And there were only about a dozen Quarians left on the bridge.

No, she couldn't start thinking like that. They had to keep fighting. This was one of the few cases where death was actually a better alternative. She couldn't allow herself to be captured by these bastards. Keelah only knows what the Batarians would have in store for her, and she wasn't planning on finding out.

More Batarians stormed through the bridge doors, firing their assault rifles at the Quarians. One Quarian Marine chucked a grenade at the fresh wave of Batarians. The grenade detonated and killed three of the four-eyed slavers as the Batarian Troopers continued their assault on the bridge. It seemed like they had three more for every one of them that was killed. The same Marine that had thrown the grenade was killed by a shot to the head. Two more were killed soon after as the Batarians pushed up.

There was just no end to them.

* * *

Kelan popped up to fire her shotgun again, before the weapon sparked with electricty, her HUD reading it was overheated. Dammit, one of the Batarians had fired an overload shot and hit her weapon. She swapped to her heavy pistol, but found it was overloaded too. '_Bosh'tet!' _she thought, knowing she was now an easy target to pick off if she wasn't careful.

An explosion rocked the bridge as another grenade went off, killing two Quarians and wounding another. But, to the Quarians' horror, they discovered that an EMP grenade had been detonated as well, overheating all of their weapons. Realizing their plan had worked, the slavers surged forward, subduing and detaining all the surviving Quarians.

Kelan fought her captors, but several hits with fist and rifle butts later her strength had left her. Two Batarian slavers held her as another put restraints on her, limiting her movement. The sound of chuckling filled her ears, as she looked up to see a Batarian Captain looking down on her. he kneeled down and spoke, _"Gave us alot of trouble, but you only delayed the inevitable." _He paused, his eyes looking up and down her figure, _"As much as I would like to keep you for myself, I think it'll be better if I sold you off. Should get a pretty good price for you."_

_"Go to Hell, you Bosh'tet!"_

_"Haha. Still have some fight in you? Don't worry. We'll take care of that." _He spoke as he grabbed her helmet, looking her in the eyes.

That was when the ship shuddered fiercely as multiple object collided with the ship. _"What the hell was that?"  
_

* * *

**_Hangar Of The Hirule  
2 Minutes Prior_**

The hangar of the Quarian Cruiser was a three story tall empty space about 60 meters by 80 meters, with a second story catwalk and housed multiple tools and equipment that the Quarians used ground-side. There was even a excavation mech, but was unusable due to the power core being broken two days prior. A couple light military transports were being housed as well for the Marines stationed on board. But for the large part, multiple crates populated the hangar, along with several sleeping quarters that the Marines used.

But now, the hangar was a warzone, littered with dead and dying, burnt out equipment and makeshift covers. The hangar had been under siege since the ship was boarded, due to being in front of Engineering. Engineering had been the first place hit by the slavers, who quickly cut all power to the ship save for life support. This act alone had isolated the 400 crew members and 600 Quarian Marines defending the ship. And now some 50 Marines were fighting off the Batarian troopers. The once 150 strong force had been decimated from the none stop onslaught of slavers, along with a failed counterattack to retake Engineering.

Lance Corporal Yulren'Lovik nar Neema clutched his assault rifle and balled up behind a cluster of crates as bullets flew overhead. Next to him were a couple surviving members of his squad. Their squad had been part of the failed attempt to retake Engineering. Out of the 15 soldiers in their squad, only three had survived. And now, the Batarians were pushing in for the final kill.

_"Keep up the fire! We have to hold them off!" _A Quarian First Sergeant shouted, the highest ranking soldier left in command. His own squad leader, a Sergeant, was one of the first ones killed trying to retake Engineering. Now he was in charge of a squad of three. _"Keelah, I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. Just let me live through this, please." _Yulren whimpered. He didn't want to die. Not yet. He hadn't even gone on his Pilgrimage yet. Instead, when he turned 16, he joined the Marines to serve his people and protect them.

This was the first time the 19 year old had seen combat. And he was scared shitless.

* * *

He popped out of cover and fired off a burst from his rifle, before jumping back into cover. He doubt he hit anything, but still better than nothing. He saw a couple Marines go down as they were hit. The First Sergeant popped out and pushed forward with five other soldiers, all of them firing away at the Batarian Troopers. A few of the slavers went down from the hail of bullets, but quickly collected themselves and returned fire at the advancing group. This act encouraged some of the Quarians to step up the amount of firepower they were putting down range, but they were still heavily outnumbered by the slavers.

He peeked out of cover, looking for targets, when he saw movement. Too late, he realized a trio of slavers had primed some grenades and chucked them directly at the First Sergeant and his squad. Yulren screamed out at the First Sergeant to look out, but it was too late. The grenades landed at the feet of the Marines and exploded, engulfing them in a trio ball of fire and shrapnel. Seeing this had visibly shaken the young soldier. 'That's it. We're dead. Done for.' he thought grimly.

The Batarians pushed up, firing away with assault rifles and machine guns as they chucked grenades to keep the Marines pinned down. Yulren's fellow squad mates popped out of cover and killed a few slavers advancing on their position. But one of them was hit in the chest, doubling over as he fell to the ground dead. His teammate fired on the slaver that killed him, nicking him a couple times before the Batarian fell back into cover. The Marines moved back into cover, but was hit in the head and dropped like a ton of bricks, dead.

_"Ancestors, help us." _Yulren whispered as he clutched his rifle. The gunfire was starting to die down on his end, meaning the Batarians were mopping up and moving in for the kill. He could hear them, they were close. And closing in on his position. Yulren knew that it was over, he had nowhere to run. He just prayed that the slavers chose to kill him instead of making him a slave.

As a Batarian soldier rounded the corner, the wall behind Yulren seemed to explode, knocking everyone to the ground. The room shook violently as if an meteor shower had struck the ship.

* * *

As he picked himself up from the ground, Yulren looked behind him to what the hell just happened. What he saw, well, he didn't know what to think. Coming through the wall were what appeared to be two holes, but he knew better to know what an insertion door of a boarding craft was when he saw one. Great, the Batarians had flanked them. But then he took another look at it. The insertion door was purple in color and had a white-bluish 'screen' covering the entrance. These weren't akin to Batarian designs.

What the hell was this? That mild blue screen wasn't a color kinetic barriers made. Usually they were orange or a whitish blue color, depending on the design.

He saw a silhouette moving towards the door, followed by several more. The being jumped out from the boarding craft, landing with a crouch not 10 feet from Yulren's position. The Batarians, and a few Quarians, aimed their weapons at the newcomers, but most were simply caught off guard by the sudden entrance. At first, Yulren thought the being was a Turian, but the being was massive, larger than a Krogan. When the creature stood up, however, and allowed him to see its full body and face, he quickly realized something.

This thing wasn't Turian. Hell, it looked like it could rip a Turian in half with ease.

The being must of been nearly 8 feet tall. Grey skin, with hoofed feet and what looked like two fingers and two thumbs; one on top and one on the bottom of the hand. But what freaked him out was its face. Those reptilian eyes. And there was no bottom jaw. None. And it looked liked it's mouth was made up of four mandibles, each filled with razor sharp teeth. It's body was covered in solid white armor, and in its hands was a strange weapon Yulren had never seen before. The Batarians were conversing with themselves, unsure of what to do as more and more troops exited the craft, with three different species exiting the craft all together. The Sangheili Ultra, however, decided to make their choice for them.

With a savage roar, joined in by several other Sangheili, the Ultra aimed his Type-51 Carbine and open fire on the slavers. The Batarian-Covenant War had begun.

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
****Epsilon Indi A system  
**_**_SSV-Spirit of Fire  
20 kms From Wreckage_**

Admiral Cutter couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked at the holo-pad projection of what the object was and knew immediately what it was. But he just simply couldn't believe it was this ship. Granted, the ship was a mangled wreck of its former glorious self, but he recognized it nonetheless. He kept reading the name on the side of the hull.

**UNSC EVEREST-C-311**

The UNSC Everest. Valiant-Class Super-Heavy Cruiser. 1.5 km of death and fury. 2.5 m of Titanium-A armor. Equipped with three 600-ton MAC guns that could tear through Covenant ships (If the shields were broken), 80 Archer Missile Pods, and 150 50 mm Point Defense Guns.

And the Flagship of Admiral Preston J. Cole.

He didn't want to believe it, but here it was, right in front of him. But Cutter, however, didn't like the condition the ship was in. The Everest's hull was burnt and mangled in multiple areas, indicating that this ship had seen some serious combat before it ended up here. The rear was the worst hit of the ship, but the bow of the ship was only moderately damaged. Only one of the MAC Guns seemed damaged. There were several scorch marks on the hull, but the bow was mostly intact. This spoke good news to Cutter. He knew that the Valiant-Class spaced out their cryo-pods, so if something happened during hibernation, the entire crew wouldn't be lost.

Which meant there was at least a fair chance of survivors on board.

"Ensign Holmes."

"Yes, Captain?" Came the response. Cutter turned around and looked at her.

"Contact Red Team, tell them to suit up, and prepare a boarding party."

* * *

_**Crew Quarters**_

In the Crew Quarters of the ship, three soldiers were being assisted in suiting up their massive armor and preparing to depart on a mission. The MJOLNIR Mk IV was fantastic at what it did, but took upwards of 30 minutes and a dozen technicians each just to put on the Spartans. They had been personally requested by Admiral Cutter himself, so they automatically knew this was important if they were being call up. Spartans were only called up on the most dangerous or important of assignments, which was the only reason they could of been called up and told to suit up. Jerome-092, Douglas-042, and Alice-130 finished their suit up and proceeded towards the hangar bays.

* * *

_**Hangar Bay 2A**_

Once there, a trio of Pelican Dropships were waiting to take off, one for the Spartans, and the other two were for the 60 specially outfitted ODST that were going with them. Scans had showed that 62% of the Everest's hull was breached and compromised. So to protect the soldiers going on board, all of the ODST were suited up with Atmospheric Gear to protect them from space. The Spartans, there suits already designed to be airtight, were rigged with two extra oxygen tanks for prolonged operations.

"Is everyone ready to go?" One of the technicians spoke to the Spartans. Jerome looked down at the man, "Yes, we're ready."

The technician nodded and waved over towards the Pelican, "Alright, then. Everyone else is good to go, hop on board."

The Spartans proceeded towards the Dropship in the center of the formation. Each Pelican were equipped with extended carriages to carry more troops. With these attachments, they were able to carry upwards of 50 personnel into combat situations, while still providing decent protection.

_'Spartans, do you read?'_ A voice came up on the radio.

"Affirmative. This is Spartan-092, go ahead." Jerome responded.

_'Sierra-092, this is 1Lt. Wellington, CO of Talon Company, 35th ODST Battalion. We'll be working together in this operation.'_

"Affirmative, Lt."

"Head's up," The Pelican's Pilot spoke up, "We're taking off." The Pelicans shuttered as they lifted off the ground and proceeded towards the hangar's exit tubes for the ship's aircraft. Each of the Pelicans entered one of the tubes and flew out of the ship to open space. The trio of troop carriers sped towards the wreck of the Everest. "Spirit of Fire, this Yuma-1, ETA to destination 3 minutes, over."

* * *

_**Bridge**_

"Roger that, Yuma-1. You are clear to proceed on course, over." Cutter responded, watching the holo-pad projection of the Pelicans proceeding towards the wreckage of the former flagship of the UNSC. He turned to the Communications and Sensors Systems, "Commence a scan of the hull for IFF tags, see if we can pinpoint where the crew's at. Ensign Holmes, relay this command to the fleet."

"Yes, Sir."

Cutter turned around and walked towards one of the Lieutenants on deck and spoke up, "Any word from the Minsk?"

"Yes, Sir. Captain Hackett sent a data packet 4 minutes ago with information on the planet." The Lieutenant spoke, handing the Admiral a data-pad. Cutter took the pad and looked down at the information being displayed.

* * *

_/Planet Exploration Report\  
__/System: Epsilon Indi A\  
__/Planet Codename: Harvest\_

_/Atmosphere:  
76.52% Nitrogen  
21.33% Oxygen  
2.15% Various Other Gases/Water Vapor\_

_/Surface Conditions:  
41% Salt Water  
16% Fresh Water  
43% Land (Scout Probes Finished Testing That Indicate The Soil Is Very Fertile For Crops And Farming.)_

_Total Mass: Roughly 121% The Size Of Earth\_

_/1.3 G\_

_/Temperatures: Ranging from -2*C to 28*C\_

_/Orbit Cycle:_

_281 Days For Full Rotation Around Star._

_27 Hours In A Day.\_

_/Approved For Future Colonization.\_

* * *

Admiral Cutter couldn't help but smile at the choice of name for the Planet. Hackett was one of the few people that knew the truth about him and the history of the UNSC. Despite that, the name did seemed to fit the planet, if the scans were accurate about the soil.

"Sir, Everest Infiltration Teams have arrived at insertion points."

He turned from the data-pad, looking back to the holo-pad. "Good, tell them they have a green light to proceed."

* * *

**_Pelican Dropship_**

_'Entry Teams, you have a green light.' _The Pilot spoke over the radio. Jerome pulled his MA5B off his back, the magnetic clamps unlocking the rifle from its original place. Alice and Douglas took flanking positions on Jerome. They were entering through a massive gap in the hull towards the stern that was large enough for a Pelican to fit through.

The dropship shuttered as it touched down. _'Okay, you are clear to exit. Opening doors now.' _The ramp dropped down, exposing the Spartans to the vacuum of space. They were met with silence and darkness. They quickly turned on their flashlights to illuminate their surroundings.

"Move out." Jerome spoke, receiving two winks of light as acknowledgement of the order.

The super soldiers move out from the troop carrier, looking about to see where they were exactly. They quickly realized they were in on of the vehicle bays, seeing a couple warthogs still strapped down to their respective depots. Other than that, there wasn't much else in the bay. They continued towards a sealed door that led deeper into the ship and to their destination.

_'Red team, this is Talon-Actual, Copy?'_

"Roger, Talon-Actual. We read you. Status, over?"

_'We've touched down and are proceeding to Engineering, gonna see if we can get the lights back on at least. ETA about 5-10 minutes. What's your status, over?'_

"We've touched down as well and are proceeding to the cryogenic bays to locate possible survivors. ETA about 5 minutes, over."

_'Roger that. I'll send a couple squads to rendezvous with you and help out, how copy.'_

"Lt, do you think you can bring Life Support back online, over?"

_'Well, it depends on the condition of the engines, but we'll see what we can do, over.'_

"Roger, that. Red team, out."

And with that, Jerome focused back on the task at hand. Douglas had pried the vehicle bay door open and the Spartan team proceeded towards Cryo. They proceeded down hallways and turned corners, all the while weapons trained towards the front and scanning for any hostiles. All three of the Spartans remembered fighting the Flood, and weren't looking to stumble into any new surprises.

"Sir, according to schematics, Cryogenics deck is directly above us." Alice spoke up after scanning a hallway they were walking down. "Found some stairs." Douglas spoke from the other side of the same hallway. Jerome and Alice moved towards the stairs and Douglas. They all proceeded up the stairs for two flights before arriving at Cryogenics deck. _'Red team, come in, over.'_

"This is Red team, go ahead, over."

_'This is Staff Sergeant Hudson, 7th Squad of Talon Company. We're at Cryogenics and we have located some survivors in cryo-stasis, over.'_

"Roger that, Sergeant. Can you confirm Admiral Cole's location and status, over?"

_'Standby.' _There was silence over the radio. And then, _'Yes. We have confirmed Admiral Cole's location. Until the others get the power back on, we can't confirm his vitals, over.'_

"Roger that. We're on our way. Red team, out." Jerome finished as they continued towards their objective.

A couple minutes later, they arrived at their destination. There were Cryo-pods lined up on both sides of the hallway. They could see ODST gathered around, one of the troopers waving them over. They walked over to the troopers. One of the ODST, larger and taller than his companions, stepped up and spoke, "Red team? SSgt. Hudson. We found the Admiral over there one of the Cryo-pods." He gestured behind him, pointing his thumbs back a couple pods down.

"Good. Now we're just waiting on the Lieutenant to bring the engines back online." Jerome spoke.

At that moment, as if on que, the light flickered on and the speakers blared out various stats about the ship's condition. _'We got the power back on, over.' _The Lieutenant spoke over the radio. After a pause, he spoke once more, _'We don't have life support available, so the survivors are gonna have to be moved in their pods. I'll send a team up to the bridge to secure data and purge the servers, over.'_

"Roger, Talon-Actual. We'll get right on it, out." Jerome turned to the Sergeant, "How many are still alive?"

"One sec." Hudson spoke as he typed into the data-screen. After a few seconds, he spoke up, "We've got 417 still alive, including Admiral Cole." The ODST went about to the pods, prepping them to be moved. "Alright, then. Let's bring our people home." He finished as the ODST and Spartans went about their new task.

* * *

_**Spirit of Fire-Bridge**_

Admiral Cutter heard the news that Admiral Cole had been found and was still alive. He was glad. The Alliance could use a man of his caliber, giving the Alliance Navy a major boost in tactics and and skill, especially if its coming from someone with Cole's level of quality. Things were looking up for the Alliance.

"Captain, emergency message from HIGHCOM." Ensign Holmes spoke up. Cutter turned around, "What is it?"

"Yesterday, Terra Nova came under attack and occupied."

The room went dead silent. Admiral Cutter went dead silent, unmoving. Fear coursed through his body. Under attack?! By who? Could it be the... no. No, it couldn't be. A dozen questions a minute were running through his head as Cutter gathered himself and spoke up once more, "What's going on exactly?" Ensign Holmes did a quick read over of the message before speaking once more.

"Sir, a rebellion has occurred and has overrun the planet's garrison force. Four Military Ships have been seized by the Rebel forces and are using them as a main line defense for whatever we send to retake the colony."

Cutter breathed a small sigh of relief. It wasn't Covenant or a hostile first contact, but it was still a serious matter. Terra Nova was a vital Garden World, with some 1.2 Million inhabitants living on the Planet. If a Garrison Force of 25,000 had been overrun, along with local police forces, then this rebellion must have been large in scale and had been years in planning. He knew some of the Systems Alliance's (or rather, the UNSC's) policies were unpopular, but he hadn't expected a rebellion to occur. At least, not so soon.

Regardless, they have a duty to defend Earth and her Colonies, from both foreign and domestic enemies.

Cutter turned to Communications and spoke, "Ensign, tell the Spartans and ODST to get back here now, we're gonna need them. SSV-Boston is in charge of retrieving personnel from Everest. We're jumping in 10 minutes."

"Yes, Sir." She went to issue out the order, when the radio came alive, _'Admiral, this is SSV-Minsk, requesting permission to leave and proceed towards Sirius System, over.'_

"For what purpose, Captain?"

_'To act as an advance scout and give tactical information back to Alliance Command on enemy strength, over.'_

Hackett's ship could get their sooner than anything from Earth or Reach, it wasn't a bad idea. After pondering for a few seconds, the Admiral spoke up, "Permission granted, Captain."

_'Roger that, Spirit of Fire. SSV-Minsk, leaving system, out.'_

On the holo-pad, the Minsk was shown leaving the orbit of Harvest. A few seconds laters, she winked out of existence. Cutter turned to look at the Everest wreckage, and whispered under his breath, "I hope you've still got that brilliant mind of yours, Admiral." Before turning back to hear Ensign Holmes speak up, "Sir, Spartans and ODST are back on the Pelicans. They're on their way back to the ship."

"Good, the moment they're on board, we'll commence a jump to Terra Nova."

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
**_**_Kandul System, Perseus Veil, Bordering the Terminus Systems  
51,000 Light Years From Earth  
Hangar Of Quarian Ship "Hirule"_**

_"What the hell are these things?! Why won't they die!?" _A Batarian trooper screamed as he fired away with his assault rifle at an Sangheili Major charging him, its shields absorbing the impact of the tiny rounds. The large reptilian roared as it charged the four-eyed slaver with his plasma sword. His plasma rifles had been disabled by some kind of eletrical attack from the creature in front of him, so he decided to kill the slaver the old fashion way. The way of the sword.

The four-eyed slaver screamed as the Sangheili plunged his sword into its chest, killing it swiftly. _"Push forward, my brothers! Leave none of these foul creatures alive!" _He shouted back to his fellow soldiers, flinging a plasma grenade at trio of slavers hiding behind a crate. The Batarians were fleeing at this point. None of the suit rats were worth this kind of devestation over. They were more than happy to pull back to Engineering and fortify their defenses, but not after losing over half of their troops in the hangar.

Ever since the Covenant had joined in, the battle had turned from one of a slaughterhouse for the Quarians, to one for the Batarians. The slavers had never encountered enemies so fierce and unrelenting; so superior and seemingly unstoppable. The small ones, the ones that look like volus with strange triangle backpacks, were pretty easy to kill, only their sheer numbers made them dangerous. The bird creatures were quick and had shields, but could be killed if they were flanked. The large ones, however, seemed unstoppable. They had complete shields that seemed impossible to break, unless you were using a heavy weapon or an overload app.

And the Quarians... they didn't know what to make of the newcomers.

For all their aggression and dominance, none of it was being directed towards them, just towards the Batarians. In fact, one of the larger Turian-like beings actually save Yulren from a slaver from killing him. All he knew was that for now, it seemed the strange aliens were on their side. For the moment, at least. _"Who is the commanding officer?" _someone suddenly spoke. Yulren turned around and was face to face, er, chest, to the Sangheili Ultra. It was looking down on him, waiting for a response.

Come to think of it, who was in charge of the Marines? The First Sergeant was dead, along with every other sergeant, which meant that the chain of command would pass onto... oh Bosh'tet.

He spoke hesitantly, _"I guess that's me... sir?" _The Sangheili looked at him for a moment. Then it spoke up once more, _"I am Kolre Uzinaree, Commander of this outfit of The Covenant Spec-Ops. My race is known as Sangheili." _Kolre placed his curled up right hand over his chest, his voice spoke with pride and honor. Yulren could already tell this... _Sangheili _was a career soldier, one who has seen many battles.

Realizing Kolre was waiting for a response, the young Quarian spoke up, _"I'm Lance Corporal Yulren'Lovik nar Neema. I suppose I'm the person left in charge of the Marines here."_

_"What Happened to your fleet?"_

Yulren looked off, gathering his thoughts, _"Our ships were sent to track a supposed Geth Cruiser that was by itself. The plan was to disable it and access their databanks, gain some massive intel on the Geth." _He paused for a second, before realizing something, _"Oh right, you probably don't know what I'm tal-"_

_"We are already aware of what the Geth and Batarians are, Quarian. We did the same thing to the Batarian Fleet, and hacked into their databanks."_

Yulren was caught off guard with this, they already knew? That made things... simpler, he guess. _"Continue your story."_

_"Right, well when we arrived in system, instead of a single Geth Cruiser, we were greeted with a damn fleet of nearly 50 Batarians. We tried to run but were cut off at from the relay. We had no way out, and we knew what the four-eyed Bosh'tets were here for, so we started fortifying and prepared for the worst. When they cut the power, there were about 150 Marines that were cut off here. And we were the only ones who could retake Engineering and restore power."_

Kolre looked around the room, observing how many Quarians were still alive. He counted 32. 120 had died trying to give their companions a fighting chance. He had to admire and respect that determination. He turned back to the young Corporal, _"Then let us restore power to this ship and drive these fiends off it."_

_"Are you nuts?! By now, they've fortified their position and set up machine gun nest all over the place. It would be a slaughter!"_

The Sangheili gave what Yulren could only describe as a devious grin, _"Fret not, we have an answer for that problem."_

As if on Que, two massive hulking creatures, even larger than the Sangheili, stepped up and approached the duo. Yulren was speechless. The two hulking creatures were 12 feet tall. They both had a massive shield on their left arm, and what looked like a giant green cannon on their right. Several spines were sticking out of their back. Their bodies had various patches of orange, which looked fleshy and living. Their heads were surprisingly tiny and fully encased in armor.

The Sangheili warrior spoke up, _"The Mgalekgolo will lead the charge. Their armor can withstand anything these heathens can throw at us. Forward! For the Covenant!"_

* * *

Engineering was a large spacious room, with several platforms and computer screens controlling twin reactors that were behind a large glass screen that protected the room from being irradiated. The Batarians had fortified their position after the disaster at the hangar. Half a dozen Machine Guns were aimed at the entrance of Engineering, along with four dozen Batarian troopers. What they saw next, however, they were completely unprepared for.

The Mgalekgolo roared, their spines flaring out, as they charge the hallway that lead to Engineering. The Batarians were dumbfounded at what they were seeing. Enormous creatures, larger than a Krogan, charging their positions with massive shields. The Batarians panic fired their Assault Rifles and Machine Guns at the hulking monsters, but the rounds just merely bounced off their massive shields.

The Mgalekgolo charged up their plasma cannons, green ball of plasma forming at the opening of the cannons. Finishing their charge, the cannons fired, twin ball of plasma screaming towards their targets. They connected and exploded in the midst of a group of slavers, sending weapons and body parts flying all around. The Covenant and Quarian Infantry came in behind them, firing away at the four-eyed terrestrials.

An Unggoy fired at one Batarian with a Type-33 Needler, hitting the hapless slaver with a dozen shards before they super-combined and exploded, turning the poor Batarian into pink mist. Yulren fired his Assault Rifle at another slaver, dropping him with several controlled burst. He doesn't know where this spark of bravery came from, but he knew that there was a fire lit in him that told him to fight, along with many of the other Quarians.

They were going to retake this ship, a statement that was only further support as Yulren saw Kolre strike down two Batarians with his Plasma Sword.

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
****Epsilon Indi A system  
**__**SSV-Boston**_

"...How many survived?" The 60 year old spoke softly. In truth he was actually 73, but many years in the UNSC Navy meant many years in cryo-sleep also, it did wonders for slowing the aging-process. While he was happy to be alive, when he saw the condition of his ship, his happiness was quickly replaced with dread. "417 were still alive. We're resuscitating them all as we speak, sir." The Lt. spoke, a young 30-something South African from the look of him.

He had hoped to leave the UNSC. Using the Io as a substitute to help fake his death had been an enormous gamble. He had hoped to take off with his crew, whom he had already spoken to about leaving the UNSC, and starting a new life somewhere away from the UNSC and the Covenant, found a colony or something. But now...

It seemed the impossible life of Admiral Preston J. Cole had gotten a little crazier. And he was still having trouble believing the story just told to him. The Human Systems Alliance? No Covenant? The year is 2105?

The aged Hero of Humanity looked at the Lt. with dark brown eyes, "What's going to happen to my ship?"

"In all truthfulness, Sir, I don't know. My guess is that they'll strip her down for parts, take out anything that can be useful. From our scans, two of the 600-ton MAC guns are still intact, so they may remove them and refit them onto the Spirit of Fire. Right now, that wreckage is the most advance piece of technology we have in possession."

Admiral Cole smiled a little bit at the mention of Captain Cutter's ship. No, _Rear Admiral_, now. Not only was he still alive, but he got a promotion as well. "Where is Admiral Cutter?"

"SSV-Spirit of Fire has been deployed to Terra Nova. An Rebellion has occurred there. They've overrun the local Military Garrison and the Rebels have seized 4 Military Ships."

"How were they able to do that?!" Cole was a little angry with that. One would have been understandable, but _four_?! There was no excuse for that. Unless, the Rebels were already on board and had been planning a seizure of the ships for some time.

"From what we can gather, the Rebels had been planning this for years now. They've had massive amounts of time to plan and gather resources for the rebellion."

That probably was the case. It had been the same thing with the Insurrections and the UNSC. Over a dozen Colonies rebelled within 4 days of each other when it had started. It was part of the reason ONI had been given so much power and financing when the Human-Covenant War started. But if they were lucky, this rebellion was just an isolated incident.

"What types of ships were at Terra Nova?"

"3 Athens-Class Frigates and 1 Gettysburg-Class Destroyer." Holographic displays of the ships appeared on the Holo-pad, allowing Cole to observe them in detail.

"Admiral." He heard, and turned to Captain Higorashi, a middle-aged man of Japanese origin, and C/O of the Boston, "We have the Sydney and Johannesburg attached to the Everest and they're going to take the ship back to Earth. I have instruction to bring you and your crew back to Earth as well. However," He paused, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before he resumed talking, "I want nothing more than to go to Terra Nova and help resolve it before it turns into a bloodbath."

Cole took a step towards the man, his eyes narrowing slightly, "And why exactly would you be willing to defy orders of your Commanding Officer?" He inquired.

The Captain turned from him, the silence between the two lasting for several seconds, before Higorashi spoke up, "My daughter and her family are on Terra Nova."

Cole's facial expression softened. He understood what the man was going through at the moment. His family was in danger and he had the power to help them, but orders were conflicting with matter of the heart. Despite his sympathy for the man, knowing what it was like to worry over family, orders were still orders.

"I'm sure she'll be okay. If you were ordered to take me back to Earth, then do it. I'm sure afterwards they'll let you rejoin the Fleet to retake Terra Nova."

Higorashi turned to him, his face filled with surprise and confusion, "How do you know they'll have a Fleet mobilized?"

Now it was Admiral Cole's turn to turn away from the man, "Because it's what I would do if one of my worlds was being occupied."

Pondering it for a few moments, Higorashi, despite wanting to go to Terra Nova, knew that one against four weren't good odds. He turned to the Lt. and spoke up, "Order the fleet to commence jump. We're going to Earth. We'll regroup with the Fleet there and retake Terra Nova then."

The crewmen of the Boston went about to complete their tasks as the ship and the SSV-UNSC trio hybrid prepared to jump back to Earth.

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
**__**Sol System  
**__**Earth's Orbit**_

High above Earth's orbit, a Fleet was being mobilized. The Fleet was to be compromised of 10 Athens-Frigates, 2 Gettysburg-Destroyers, The 'Dreadnought' Spirit of Fire, and 4 Odysseus-Support Ships. The largest Naval Task Force ever assembled for an interstellar operation. So far, 7 Frigates, 1 Destroyer, and 2 Support Ships had arrived, with others to arrive within the next 24 hours. The Odysseus-Class had their Marine capacity loaded out to the maximum, and were fitted out with 50 Pelican Dropships, and numerous Military Vehicles ranging from Warthogs to Tanks.

This Fleet was being assembled for one purpose and one purpose only. The Liberation of Terra Nova.

* * *

**So as you can see, there's definitely more action going on in this chapter (I hope I did a good job with the combat sequences.) And there will be more in the next chapter. The Covenant are making their grand entrance to the Galaxy, Admiral Cole has returned, and Humanity is about to have its first true test of its new Military Power. I made Admiral Cole a little younger because that's actually something Cryo-sleep does to a person while they're 'under', the slowing of the aging process that a person goes through over their life. It doesn't stop it completely, but it does slow it down considerably, which is why Admiral Cole is only 60 in body instead of 73. Slipspace jumps in the Haloverse take weeks, even months to complete. (For the UNSC, anyway, until after the Human-Covenant War.)**

**The Council Races will be in the next chapter and start to be more prominent in future chapters, as to show how the Citadel Council is responding to the newcomers in the Galaxy and how Galactic History is being changed from the canon.**

**Another thing I would like to address is that I'm considering adding a minor romance in the story. Not entirely certain if I'm gonna do it, but it's definitely an idea being played with at the moment. Problem is, I suck at romance, so if there is anyone who is a romance writer or just knows how romance in story works I would love it if you contacted me regarding. That being said, if you have some ideas for the story, by all means contact me anyway. :)**

**Finally, thank you for all the support you've given me for this story. If I could, I would gladly hire each of you strippers and present them as a token of thanks. I can't do that of course, because A. That would be creepy if I knew where you all lived and B. I'm not made out of money (Lol).**

**In all seriousness, thank you. It means alot to the writers when they receive this level of support, especially for a first time story. (I'm excluding my other story because I kinda jump head-first into that one and I didn't really know what I was doing.)**

**Keep up the support and constructive criticism, and I'll see you next chapter.  
**

* * *

**(Update: This info on Terra Nova is now outdated and will be removed following the release of the newest Codex for the SA in the Halo/Mass Effect Codex.)**

_PLANET INFO_

_TERRA NOVA  
SIRIUS SYSTEM  
_

_First Colony: Sept-2104_

_Planet Mass: 133% of Earth's  
Gravity: 1.4 Gs  
_

_Atmosphere:  
72.1% Nitrogen  
24% Oxygen  
3.9% Various Other Gases/Water Vapor  
_

_Surface Conditions:  
36% Land  
41% Salt Water  
33% Fresh Water  
_

_Temperatures:  
-10*C to 35*C  
_

_Orbit Cycle:  
307 Days F__or Full Rotation Around Star__  
30 Hour Days_

_Moons: 2  
Kelvic (326,000 km from planet)  
Durant (251,000 km from planet)_

_Capital/Largest City:  
__Yukima City (P:120,000)  
__Total Population: 1,231,700  
__Military Garrison: 25,000_

_Planet History: Terra Nova, with its vast green forests, lush dark-blue grasslands, and surprisingly high levels of Fresh Water, has been one of the major focuses of Human Colonization, along with Reach and other large scale planets. With Yukima City being founded in Sept of 2104, it was one of the first planets to be colonized. Since then, numerous Corporations have invested billions into its development, with the results of that investment showing much promise. Terra Nova is also quickly becoming a popular tourist destination, for those that can afford to travel. There are several metal deposits that have yet to be exploited, but plans are in motion to set up facilities to mine these resources._

_While there have been people who have been wanting to leave the influence of Earth and the Systems Alliance, the inflation of 2104 gave them an excuse and inspiration for more people to join their cause, turning it into a full scale rebellion. Four former Alliance Ships are in the possession of the Rebels now, thanks to sympathizers and collaborators on the ships, who were able to overwhelm and eliminate anyone loyal to the Systems Alliance. __The Planet is currently a warzone as the Rebels and Alliance Marines slug it out for control of the Planet, although the Rebel have numerical superiority and are beginning to route the local Marine Garrison. Reinforcements will be needed if the Marines want to have any chance of beating back the rebellion._


	4. An Empire's Rise and Trials of War

**I don't own Halo or Mass Effect.**

**All Copyrights Reserved by 343 Industries and Bioware.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**_9th Age of Reclamation (05.23.2105)  
_****_Kandul System, Perseus Veil, Bordering the Terminus Systems  
51,000 Light Years From Earth_****_  
Quarian Ship 'Hirule'  
3 Decks Above Engineering_**

_"Why the Hell is no-one responding from downstairs? Someone tell me WHAT! THE FUCK! IS GOING ON! DOWN! THERE?!" _An enraged Batarian Major roared at a squad of troopers, numbering 10 including himself, in a hallway of the Quarian Cruiser.

About 10 minutes ago, communications downstairs went quiet, even though they could still hear gunfire going on. Then, about 2 minutes ago, the engines came back online, despite the fact they were heavily damaged, restoring power to the entire ship. And all the while he had been unable to establish any kind of communication with any other Batarian squads anywhere on the ship. Someone was jamming them, he knew that much. But he couldn't even contact the people in this room. How the hell does that happen?! The damn Salarians didn't even have anything this good.

Suddenly, he heard the sounds of the ship's elevator rising, more than likely coming to their floor. The Batarian Major puffed out a sigh of satisfaction. Now he could get some answers as to why the hell they haven't been responding and why the hell they turned the engines back on. Someone was going to get their ass kick when he found out why.

The elevator opened. And his train of thought was replaced with dumbfound shock.

There in the elevator was a single Batarian soldier being _lifted off the ground _by what looked like twin whitish blades piercing his chest. His head hung limp, obviously dead. There were several Quarian Marines in the elevator, but also what looked like several bends in the lighting all around them, moving and flenching. Then he realized it. Those were cloaks.

As if on Que, numerous monsters decloaked, including one white clad monster that was holding the impaled trooper. It flung the Batarian to the ground in a heap.

* * *

Kolre Uzinaree snarled and activated a second Plasma Sword in his other hand, duel wielding twin blades of death. With a roar, he lunged forward and impaled the Batarian Major, who screamed out in agony as he was hoisted into the air. The Batarian soldiers, who hesitated due to them being completely caught off guard, began to open fire. The Sangheili and Marines returned fire in kind, spewing death at the outnumbered slavers.

Kolre flung the now deceased Major at another Batarian, sending the corpse crashing into the hapless trooper. He charged towards two more slavers and struck them down with relative ease. 'Hardly a challenge.' he thought as he saw another slaver fall by the bolts of a Plasma Rifle, the weapon's signature whining sound echoing through the hallway. Several more seconds later, and the Batarians were all dead. The hallways grew silent save for the occassional sound of battle happening elsewhere on the ship.

* * *

All around the ship, the Batarians came under attack by the Covenant SpecOps soldiers, who showed no mercy to the hapless slavers. Unggoy used shear numbers to suppress the four-eyed bipedals while Kig-Yar advance under the protection of their wrist shield gauntlets. Sangheili used their superior tactic to overwhelm the Batarians. And the Mgalekgolo... well, let's just say it didn't end well for any slaver unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.

Yulren'Lovik nar Neema remembered watching one of the 'Hunters' slam its giant shield into one unfortunate Batarian and sent the poor bastard flying 20 feet into a wall. Another one simply slammed its shield down onto another slaver who was on the ground and _severed_ the Batarian in half. He shuttered at the memory of that particular moment. He was glad they were allies, well, for now, anyway.

He was still a little distrusting of the 'Covenant'. What was their motive? Why help them? When he asked Kolre, the Sangheili Ultra always replied with, _"We have a common goal and objective."_

What exactly did he mean by that? When questioned once more, the reply simply came, _"Fr__et not, all of your questions will be answered in time. For now, let us focus on the battle." _

Deciding that for now, he would withhold the questioning until they retook the ship. The Quarian Marines and Covenant SpecOps push up through the hallways of the deck, clearing out the various rooms and hallways of the deck from the invasive slavers.

After some time fighting amd killing off the Batarians on board, Kolre spoke, _"Yulren, where is the bridge?"_

_"It's towards the back of the ship, on this deck." _

_"Good, when we retake it, we can pilot the ship and dock it with one of our ships." _

_"Y-your ships? What do you mean?" _He knew those ships were large, but docking? Surely he's joking.

_"Yes. We'll dock it with the Walk of Divinity." _

_"Which one is that?" _

_"The 6 km Vessel."_

_"Keelah, how do you have ships so massive that don't run on Eezo?"_

_"Because we've never heard of this 'Element Zero', or Mass Relays. Our technology is derived off holy relics left behind by our Gods." _

Oh right. The _Forerunners._ Yulren was still curious to learn more about these supposed Gods. He questioned the legitimacy of them being gods, more than likely an ancient Civilization that left some tech behind that they reversed engineered, like the Citadel Races and the Protheans. Nonetheless, this technology that they had was so much better than anything they had. Hell, maybe even the Asari or Turians. He knew that if the Migrant Fleet secured an alliance with the Covenant, they could possibly save their species from extinction, maybe even reclaim their Homeworld from the Geth.

All in due time, of course. For now, retake the ship.

* * *

_**05.23.2105  
**__**Sol System  
**__**Earth's Orbit**_

The Fleet was mobilized, ready and waiting to retake Terra Nova from the Insurrectionists. 17 ships, and 50,000 soldiers, were waiting for the order to jump towards the Sirius System and put down the Rebellion. While Rear Admiral James Cutter and the Spirit of Fire's crew had experience in war and combat, this would be the System Alliance's first true test of their Military.

Cutter was already having a bad feeling about the mission.

In his personal opinion, they weren't ready. If the Alliance lost too many ships in the space battle, it might compel other colonies to rebel due to the Alliance's inability to properly respond. They had the numbers on the ground, but the Navy was still being developed. Heavy losses in space were something the Systems Alliance could not afford, not at the beginning of its colonization efforts. At least they had a seasoned Officer commanding the Fleet, so they had some hope of coming out of this with minimal casualties.

"Sir, all ships are reporting ready to jump." Ensign Rebecca Holmes spoke, her light brown eyes looking up to the Rear Admiral. He could see anticipation in her eyes, along with nervousness and fear.

He could understand her nervousness, the first time anyone sees combat is a life-changing experience. You never really are the same after it. He remembered the first time he was in combat, nothing more than a weapons officer on board the UNSC Frigate 'Jerusalem' when their battle-group of 5 Frigates came under attack by 7 Rebel ships of various design, in the Epsilon Indi A System.

The UNSC won the fight and destroyed the Rebels, but not after losing 2 ships and a third one being severely damaged. He never looked at the Military the same way after that fight.

And now, this young 26 year old woman, in the prime of her life, was about to have her life changed forever too. He could sympathize with her, but she still needed to be able to do her job. He would have a talk with her in a moment after they entered Slipspace.

He looked back to the holo-pad projection of the Fleet. "Good. All ships, prepare to jump."

"Sir, the Fleets' being hailed. It's Admiral Pavlenco." Cutter nodded and motioned for it to be patched through.

* * *

The holo-pad projection changed to a profile of Admiral Nicu Pavlenco appearing. The Admiral seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment, before speaking up.

_'Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Systems Alliance Military. You are about to embark on a Campaign to retake the Colony of Terra Nova from a radical group of rebels, who have risen up and overwhelmed the Garrison and local Law Enforcement. A few Alliance Marine units are still fighting on the planet's surface, and have sent back critical information on the strength of the Enemy we are to engaged in combat. As of now, the Rebel Forces number 64,000 strong, with several military vehicles and aircraft looted from Military Bases. Their naval force consist of 3 Athens-Class Frigates, the 'Malta', 'Amsterdam', and 'Shanghai', and 1 Gettysburg-Class Destroyer, the 'Stalingrad'.'_

_'You're task will not be an easy one. You will be facing a determined enemy, who is solid in their resolve to get what they desire. They will do everything in their power to defeat you and stop you at every turn. You shall prevail. Remember your training and you shall make it back. You will overcome them and you shall be victorious. Now, go forth and liberate Terra Nova. Admiral Pavlenco, out.'_

* * *

And with that, the holo-pad returned to the display of the Fleet. Cutter was impressed. The Romanian Admiral had managed to inspire and motivate the soldiers of this invasion force. He looked over and saw a little less fear in Ensign Holmes' eyes and a little more courage than before.

"Alright, then. Now that the motivational speech is done, I want to address everyone on board. Men and Women of the Spirit of Fire, our duty is to protect Earth and her Colonies from any and all enemies, both foreign and domestic. We shall preform this task to the best of our capability and beyond that. I won't lie to you. People are going to die today. This is the terrible price of war. Nonetheless, we shall preform our duties, engage the enemy and destroy them. That is all. Cutter, out."

He finished his little speech and breathed a small sigh, "Initiate jump."

17 white portals appeared before the fleet, and the ships went through the Slipspace Portals, to the fields of battle. Cutter's only wishes were that this would be over quick and that this wasn't the prelude to something bigger.

* * *

**_9th Age of Reclamation (05.23.2105)  
_****_Kandul System, Perseus Veil, Bordering the Terminus Systems  
51,000 Light Years From Earth_****_  
Quarian Ship 'Hirule'  
Outside The Bridge_**

Kolre, Yulren, and the rest of the Quarian/Covenant Coalition laid ready to assault the bridge of the 'Hirule'. Kolre had his Carbine out, ready to spew death out. He looked over to a couple Kig-Yar and spoke, _"Breach the door." _

The two Kig-Yar nodded and went to work hacking the door, but on of the Quarian Marines walked over to the controls and override the controls to unlock the door. The door opened and the warriors charged in. What they came across was not what they were expecting. _"What the hell?" _was all Yulren could get out.

The Batarians had left the Quarian bridge crew tied and bound up. They went about to check the status of the crew. Besides the dead bodies, no one was severely injured, save for a couple. It appears the Batarians fled the fight when they realized that they were gonna lose. Ironic, as their only means of escape was a Frigate that was attached to the ship. It had fled after the Covenant boarded the ship, but was destroyed by a Heavy Destroyer that intercepted it.

* * *

Captain Kelan'Hamr vas Hirule awoke to the site of Quarian Marines tending to the bridge crew and anyone wounded, walking along side creatures she had never seen before. One species looked like volus without their suits and with large triangle packs. Another looked like featherless birds, most being equipped with some kind of wrist shield. The third and final species looked like a Turian with the muscle and size of a Krogan, and a head that was made up of four mandibles and no bottom jaw.

_"Mam, are you alright." _She looked over to see Corporal Yulren kneeling next to her, looking to see if she was alright.

She waved him off and proceeded to get up, _"A few bruises, but nothing life-threatening. I suppose I have you and your... 'Friends' to thank for saving us." _She looked over the strange newcomers once more. _"Who... are they exactly?"_

Yulren chuckled, looking over the Sangheili Ultra, before turning back to the Captain, _"It's a long story... short version is, they're called the Covenant, and they're on our side."_

Kolre walked over to the duo at that moment, _"Indeed we are. You are the Shipmaster of this vessel?"_

_"Um... Y-yes I am."_ She assumed Shipmaster is what they called a Captain, _"Captain Kelan'Hamr vas Hirule, Captain of the Hirule, Quarian Cruiser of the Migrant Fleet." _It was blatantly obvious that she was intimidated by the sheer size of the Sangheili warrior. He was bigger than a Krogan, and could probably beat one in a fight.

_"Kolre Uzinaree. Commander of the Covenant SpecOps for the Fleet of Divine Fury."_

Covenant? Fleet of Divine Fury? Well now. Considering that if what Corporal Yulren told her was correct, that 15 of their ships destroyed a Batarian Fleet of nearly 50 without losing a single ship, then Divine Fury was a proper name for it.

_"Well Kolre, I don't know why your people chose to help us, but you have the gratitude and thanks of my people." _She brought her hands together about chest level, and bowed her head down towards them. This gesture confused the Sangheili Ultra, but he assumed the gesture was one of gratitude, so he thought nothing of it.

_'Commander, the ship is secured and the fiends are vanquished.' _The Sangheili's headset came alive with chatter.

_"Excellent. Commence patrols of the ship to ensure no more of the Batarian filth is on board."_

Kolre looked back to the Quarian Captain,_ "The Fleetmaster has requested an audience with you, Shipmaster."_

Kelan was surprised by the sudden request. But in truth, her people aren't in any position to refuse. Hell, they wouldn't be able to escape the system with those monster ships in position.

_"May I ask why the Fleetmaster requests such?"_

_"He wishes to speak with you in order to arrange a meeting with your people's leaders." _

They're wanting to meet the Admiralty? So soon? There had to be a catch to this. There was no one in the Galaxy that was this kind to the Quarians without wanting something in return. They must want something.

_"Why do you want to speak with the Admiralty?"_

_"These questions will be answered in due time. I assure you, though, that there is no ill attempt intended." _

The Sangheili spoke plainly, not going into too much detail but maintaining professionalism within the voice. No surprise considering the creature before her was definitely a career soldier if Kelan ever saw one.

She turned and looked to Yulren. The young Corporal looked at her, knowing already what she was about to ask. They were in no position to refuse. Plus, the 'Covenant' went through all the trouble of saving them. The least they could do was go and see this 'Fleetmaster'.

She turned back to the Sangheili Ultra, _"Very well. I shall go see your Fleetmaster, on the condition that I bring a security team with me as escort." _

_"They will not be needed, but they will be allowed. Come. We shall prepare a dropship to take us to the Walk of Divinity."_

Kelan motioned Yulren and a couple other Marines to follow her as the Covenant SpecOps and her proceeded out the Bridge and down the hallway towards the hangar down below. Suddenly, a question popped into the Quarian Captain's mind.

_"Kolre, which ship is the Walk of Divinity?"_

_"The largest of the ships. An Assault Carrier."_

He pointed out the window towards the massive Covenant Assault Carrier, to which she could only gape at the sheer size of the ship. Keelah, what has she gotten herself into?

* * *

_**05.24.2105 - 8:20 a.m SAT (Standard Alliance Time)  
**__**Sol System  
**__**London, UK, Earth  
**__**Alliance Parliament**_

"What is the status of the Fleet?" President Carlos Santiago spoke, asking a assistant who was monitoring a data-pad. The Alliance Parliament was a relatively new building, fashioned in the form of the old United Nations Building in New York City. "Mr. President, the Fleet should be entering the Sirius System in about 1 hour."

The 56 year old Honduran nodded, and turned to Admiral Pavlenco, "Admiral, give me your opinion. Do you think our Military is ready for this?"

Admiral Pavlenco sighed, gathering his thoughts, before speaking up, "In all honesty, Mr. President, no. I don't think they are. Our Navy has not been in a serious engagement before now, nor has our Army been in a serious conflict for nearly 50 years, so our tactics are not refined. I doubt we're going to lose, but I don't doubt for a second that we will suffer considerable casualties before this is over. I just hope this isn't a prelude to something bigger."

The President pondered the Chief of Staff's words, knowing to take into consideration the man's judgement.

"At least he's being honest. What say you, Admiral?"

Admiral Preston J. Cole, for the most part, had been silent as he watch the events unfold in the Parliament building. Over the past day he had been brought up to speed with what was happening and was for the most part, up to date with the history of 'this' Humanity. He was still having trouble believing everything that had been told of him.

At least he knew what happen to Captain Cutter and the Spirit of Fire. No, wait. _Admiral _Cutter.

"In all honesty, I'm in complete agreement with Pavlenco. They're not ready, but sooner or later they're going to have to get some experience under their belt or when we come into contact with an alien race for the first time and it turns hostile, we'll get our asses handed to us."

This statement unnerved alot of people in the room. The President wasn't surprise by that remark about alien contact. He knew from Captain Cutter about the UNSC and their war with the Covenant. They even showed Parliament various videos from space battles to helmet cams on the ground of the UNSC's struggle with the Covenant. It was only part of, but for the most part the main reason they went on such a massive building spree on naval warships.

"Well, we can only hope that our first contact won't be hostile. Clarisse, how is the public handling the news?"

Clarisse Gallois, the Minister of Public Relations, was a 44 year old woman from Southern France. She had studied at Aix-Marseille University and became a intern in for the previous Presidents and their Cabinets, before being chosen by the current President.

"There is some panic, but more as to worry of the violence coming home to Earth over anything. We're doing everything in our power to assure them this is just an isolated incident, and will be resolve soon." The Frenchwoman spoke.

"Admiral Pavlenco, will General Bhandari be able to manage the task set out before him?"

"Yes. His record with the Indian Army is solid. Made a name as a capable and competent leader in the fight against Muslim Rebels in the Rajasthan Province during the Pakistan-India War of 2082. I think he'll prove himself once more here, even if it's on another planet."

"Okay, then." The President turned to Cole once more, "Admiral, we still have some time to talk before the Fleet arrives to its destination. Come with me, please."

Cole nodded silently, and followed the President down a couple hallways to another room, this one with a balcony that overlooked downtown London and the Thames river. They could see cars going across Tower Bridge and people walking the streets below. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Cole glanced at the President once more, staying silent as he continued silently to watch the city's citizens went about their daily lives.

"I grew up in a small town in Honduras. You won't find it on any maps." He chuckled at this, "I worked hard to get where I am today. Spent nearly 30 years in low level politics, you know, like regional level, before I was able to advance up into the upper level Alliance Politics. The level of Politics that effect the entire planet. I wanted to change so much about the Alliance." He continued, deep in thought as he stared out towards the city before them.

"The way things were being run, the way politics were being handled, by god. You could smell the corruption in the air. Back in 2086, finally got onto a Cabinet as the Minister of Treasury, and made massive changes to the handling of currency and policies regarding trade. Must of made enough of an impression on the right people, cause I was nominated as a candidate for President in 2098 and won. Now, I'm running my second term and I'm facing the largest crisis of my time as President."

Cole looked over and studied the man beside him. The President was an interesting man, and a smart one, too. He already knew what the President was trying to do.

"With all due respect, Mr. President, but I'm done with the Military." Cole responded simply. The President turned to him, "I'm not asking you to come back into Military service for the Alliance. I'm asking that you help us out. Work as an Instructor for the Alliance Naval Academy, we could use a man of your caliber to teach future generations. Then, as you put it, we won't get our asses handed to us in first contact, if it turns hostile."

"_When_ it turns hostile. From the moment they meet us, aliens are going to look at us as weaker and inferior to their own kind, and that may be all the motivation they need to try and enslave us, or worse."

"Which is why I chose to incorporate UNSC technology into our own, and that has jumped our civilization nearly 300 years ahead. Granted, it hasn't been fully integrated, and probably won't be for another 10 to 15 years, but with 500 years of experience, you and your people have given us a chance to learn from your mistakes and advance our civilization beyond anything imaginable. And think what our Naval force could turn into if they had experienced men like you and Admiral Cutter."

"I'm sorry, but the answer is still no, Mr. President. I will, though, vouch for Cutter. He's one of the best Captains I ever had under me. I know he'll do everything in his power to turn the Alliance Navy into the power house it needs to be."

President Santiago sighed. He knew that Cole would be tough to crack through. He could see it the moment he met the man during Parliament's first meeting with the man. And from the combat videos that the Everest's databanks showed them, it looked like the UNSC was losing its fight with the Covenant. But it also showed that the man that he was speaking to right this moment was a _Goddamn Military Genius_. The type that appeared only once in a lifetime, like Sun Tzu, Charlemagne, or Rommel. The Alliance needed a man of his caliber.

"Will you at least consider being a Naval Instructor?"

Now it was Cole's turn to sigh. It wasn't necessarily Military Service, but it was still close enough to it to where it might influence him in the future. He wanted to distance himself from the enlisted life and settle down, start anew. But when you spent so many years in the Military fighting, its a hard habit to break out of and get away from.

Seeing that the War Hero was still pondering it, President Santiago was quick to speak, "I'll tell you what. Make you decision after we hear word from the Fleet after they finish their naval battle with the Rebels. They should be entering the system within the next 15 minutes."

At that moment, an intern came in and spoke up, "Mr. President, the Fleet is about to enter the system."

Santiago nodded and looked back to Cole, "Shall we head back?"

Cole knew the man, rather the Alliance, weren't going to relent on trying to reign him into service. But he made his mind up long before he met the Alliance. They proceeded back toward the main Parliament Room, where the highest ranking members of Parliament and the Military were gathered to watch the events unfold. A large television screen was set up on one of the walls of the room, an enormous theater-sized screen that filled over half of the the wall.

"Well, let's just see how this unfolds." Cole whispered to himself as he focused on the screen to watch the upcoming battle.

* * *

_**05.24.2105 - 9:18 a.m SAT (Standard Alliance Time)  
10:18 a.m Local Time  
Sirius System  
**_**_365,000 Kilometers from Terra Nova  
38,000 Kilometers from Kelvic (Moon)_**

In the Sirius System, 17 white portals opened up to expel the 17-strong Fleet of System Alliance Warships, ready to retake Terra Nova from the Rebel forces that had taken over the planet. The SSV-Spirit of Fire exited Slipspace at the center of a largely scattered Fleet, some of the ships being over 4,000 km from the Spirit of Fire.

As the ships exited Slipspace, Satellites in orbit of Terra Nova's moons, Kelvic and Durant, picked up the Slipspace entries and alerted the Rebel forces to the Alliance's presence in System. Battlestations were called on the 4 former Alliance Warships, crews running about and manning their post.

On the Planet's surface, at Yukima City, Rebel forces prepared barricades and defenses as AAA defenses were loaded with ammunition and prepped for the coming battle. Soldiers grabbed their various rifles and loaded up on supplies and ammunition, then proceed to their assigned position for a possible defense of the city.

* * *

_**Spirit of Fire-Bridge**_

"Slipspace jump complete. All ships are being accounted for, Admiral." Ensign Holmes spoke. Rear Admiral Cutter nodded, and looked over to the holo-pad, which projected the Alliance's positions and the Rebel's positions above the planet. "How's the VI system holding up?"

The Virtual Intelligence, or VI, wasn't a full fledge AI. They wouldn't even classify as Dumb AIs, but in essence, they were designed to do the same things as a Dumb AI, just not quite as capable. A relatively brand new invention, one that had been in research and developement for the better part of 15 years before the first prototypes came out in 2102, they were first installed to help maintain and simplify city infrastructure, along with assisting humans on board ships. The Alliance Navy were some of the first ones to be installed with VI programs. In the Military, their main role is to assist with Naval Targeting and coordination of forces. And so far, they've been performing well in their roles.

But this would be their first test of the VIs in a combat situation.

"SENTINEL is reporting all systems are green and good to go. It's already communicating with the other VI systems and working to regroup the Fleet back into formation." the VI specialist spoke up. Good, he thought, at least that was going for them.

The Alliance Military's idea for VIs was the more of them there were together, the better their computing power and performance will be. The VIs were designed to work and coordinate together so that the naval ships can work and coordinate better. So far, it looked like it was working.

"Okay, I want standard screen from the Frigates, divided into two 5-ship groups in wedge formation, designations are ARROW-1 and ARROW-2. Spirit of Fire will have both destroyers on her flanks, standard wedge as well. Our designation is SWORD. Support Ships will hold back and stay out of the fight all together. Their designation will be SHIELD."

Communications went about sending out orders and Cutter turned to the holo-pad once more, "What's the enemy Fleet doing right now?"

"Sir, the enemy is maintaining position in front of Kelvic. Standard formation, Frigates in the front, Destroyers in the back."

"Good to know. What's the status of the SSV-Minsk?"

"Minsk is currently holding position about 100,000 kilometers above the planet's North Pole, well out of the Rebel Fleet's fire range. They've been sending out probes to scout out the Rebel Navy's position and to scout out what's going on groundside."

"Okay, send a message to the Minsk and tell them t-"

"Admiral, we're being hailed." Holmes spoke up.

"By who?"

"The Stalingrad, sir."

The Rebels were hailing them? Well now. What could they possibly have to say to him? Unless they were offering to surrender, he wasn't interested in whatever it was they were going to say. But, he decided he'll humor them and listen anyway. It would give his Fleet a few more minutes to get set up the way he wanted them.

"Patch them through."

An Officer handed him a data-pad, which he took in his hand and looked towards it as the screen changed to show an man of African descent, bald, late 30s, looking back at him.

"This is Admiral Cutter of the SSV-Spirit of Fire, Commander of the System Alliance's First Fleet. To whom am I speaking to?"

The African spoke, _'I am Captain Negasi Ruphael, Commander of the Defense Fleet of the Terra Nova Republic. This is now a sovereign nation to whose territory you are trespassing on. You are to leave now or you will be fire upon.'_

The Terra Nova Republic? That was fast. They have been planning this for a while.

"I don't think so. This is a Systems Alliance colony, therefore it has no sovereignty. I am ordering you to stand down, power down your weapon systems and surrender. If you surrender now, you have my word that you will be treated fairly and no harm shall come to you or your men. If you fail to do this, I will have no choice but to engage and destroy your forces."

The look of agitation on the Captain's face didn't go unnoticed by Cutter. He could see the look in the Captain's eyes that he was trying to look for some kind of edge over the larger and stronger Fleet.

_'We will not surrender. We are bound and determine to our cause. You will leave this system or you will be fired upon.'_

"Captain Ruphael, this is your only chance. Surrender your Fleet or I will engage. You will not get another chance to surrender." Cutter was starting to lose patient. Back during the years of the Insurrection, the UNSC wouldn't have even offered a chance to surrender unless the Rebels offered to first. They would have been put down and destroyed. But this wasn't the UNSC. President Santiago requested that he offer them a chance to surrender before going straight to the guns. He could already tell this was going to go nowhere, though.

He was in luck, though. Alliance Frigates and Destroyers were of similar hull designs, in order to ease manufacturing of the vessels. Hell, the Odysseus-Class were based off the Spirit of Fire's design, just on a smaller scale and no MAC gun. Their designs were also similar to and based off their UNSC counterparts, which gave Cutter an edge in this fight. He already knew the strengths and weaknesses of the vessels, along with their limitations. When this turned into a fight, he could already exploit this in the opening engagements.

_'Then I'm afraid we will fight.'_

That's all he needed to hear. He cuts the connection with the Rebel Captain and snaps the data-pad onto his pad holster on his belt.

* * *

He looked back to the holo-pad, and over towards the two battlegroups of Frigates projected just 2,000 kilometers ahead of his trio of ships on their flanks.

"ARROW-1 and 2, are you in position, over?"

_'Affirmative, Spirit of Fire. We're ready to go, over.'_

"Roger that. You are clear to proceed. Move into firing positions and prepare to fire on my command, out."

_'Roger, that. Moving, ARROW-1 and 2, out.'_

"Spin up our MAC gun and tell the Destroyers to do the same." Cutter barked out as the sound of the Spirit's 150 ton gun warming up and prepping to fire. The Destroyers 'Gettysburg' and 'Somme' diverged further away from the Dreadnought and warmed up their own MAC guns as well. The 150 ton MAC guns, when ready, could fire three times before the weapon had to cool down and reload, otherwise the MAC's coils would be melted and render the gun useless. Able to reach out and hit targets at upwards of 40,000 kilometers while traveling 100 km/s, they were designed to pierce and tear apart armored targets and basically gut them.

The 50 ton Mini-MACs, however, were designed for mass volley fire. Having a cluster of Frigates fire simultaneously and overwhelm the enemy with quantity of fire, sacrificing killing power for speed and rate of fire, capable of firing 4 rounds every minute at 150 km/s. However, the Frigates would normally fire only 3 rounds before cooling down and recharging, due to the fact that firing all 4 rounds in rapid succession have been known to cause damage to the coils.

"Sir, MAC gun spinning up. ETA to ready, 2 minutes. Same is being reported for the Destroyers."

"Good. We should be in optimal firing range by then. What of the Frigates?"

"They'll be in position in about 30 seconds."

"Sir, Enemy Fleet is firing a massive missile volley at ARROW-1. Count is at a little over 600 missiles and counting."

Hundreds of red dots were shown streaming towards ARROW-1's position on the holo-pad. Shit, he thought. The armor of those Frigates should be able to hold off the missiles, but each one was going to get at least 120 missiles that they would have to deal with. That was going to cause some significant damage to their hulls.

"Tell them evasive maneuvers and shoot down as many missiles as they can. ARROW-2 move in and fire MAC salvo at the enemy."

The Frigates of ARROW fired with their 50mm deck guns and numerous AA guns positioned across the hull, the SENTINEL VIs coordinating the guns to accurately aim and destroy numerous missiles in rapid succession. The Frigates and their new VIs preformed admirably, but the sheer number of them overwhelmed the Frigates' defense.

All in all, a little under 350 missiles still reached their targets. Missiles slammed into the hulls of the Frigates, causing explosions and fires all across the hulls of the Alliance Vessels. The fires were quickly put out by the crews as the decks' atmospheres were vented. "OK, good. The crews were paying attention to my instructions on ship fires." He muttered to himself. His data-pad was already sending him damage reports from ARROW-1.

_/ARROW-1 Damage Report\_

_/SSV-Cairo:  
Hull Integrity: 82%  
Casualties: 62 KIA, 23 WIA_

_SSV-Madrid:  
Hull Integrity: 76%  
Casualties: 50 KIA, 35 WIA_

_SSV-Bangkok  
Hull Integrity: 79%  
Casualties: 78 KIA, 21 WIA_

_SSV-New Delhi  
Hull Integrity: 61%  
Casualties: 101 KIA, 45 WIA_

_SSV-Wellington  
Hull Integrity: 69%  
Casualties: 80 KIA, 48 WIA\_

_/Total Casualties: 371 KIA, 172 WIA\_

_/End Report\_

Casualties were already to be expected, this Cutter knew. But they were lower than he expected. So far, a good thing.

He could see on the holo-pad ARROW-2 counting down to fire, before the count went to zero. 10 Mini-MACs thundered to life as their 50 ton payload went sailing to their targets, followed 5 seconds later by 10 more, then another 10 rounds 5 seconds after that salvo. The 30 MAC rounds went sailing through space towards their targets, that were 16,000 kilometers away, travelling at 150 km/s.

"MAC rounds away. ETA to targets, 1 min 50 secs."

"Good. Once we get a little closer, we'll open fire as well." Cutter spoke up.

Ensign Holmes spoke up, "Sir, SSV-Cairo from ARROW-1 is reporting a strange signal close to their battlegroup coming from a cluster of missile debris. They don't recognise the sign-"

An mini-star appeared in the blackness of space, engulfing the 5 Frigates in a fiery mini-nova. The Alliance personnel were horrified and confused as to what they were witnessing, but Rear Admiral Cutter and the UNSC personnel knew full well what that was.

A SHIVA-class nuclear weapon detonating in space.

In space, there was nothing to offer resistance to a nuclear weapon when detonating, meaning every bit of the weapon's energy was used and expelled in the blast, multiplying its killing and destructive power. The five Frigates stood no chance against the nuke, not when it exploded from 10 kilometers away.

Rear Admiral Cutter couldn't believe himself. He had completely forgotten that Alliance Destroyers had a nuclear weapon stored on board. To his credit, before coming here to the Systems Alliance, he hadn't fought a against an Insurrectionist Ship in 8 years, 5 of those were spent fighting the Covenant. He wasn't used to fighting Rebels who had nukes. And the bastards just deployed it to neutralize five Frigates. He could see on the Holo-pad that they were still alive, but their hull were showing badly damaged, barely holding together, and thousands dead. "Goddammit." He muttered.

His incompetence and lack of consideration had gotten 5 ships knocked out and a couple thousand dead.

* * *

Shock and horror ran amok the ships of the Systems Alliance. They all had just watched five state-of-the art ships get decimated in basically one move. Ensign Holmes could only look in horror as her screen kept showing the casualty figures, which kept rolling in, numbering in the thousands at this point.

"S-sir, Enemy Fleet is firing MAC guns."

He turned to the Officer who spoke, "At who?"

"At ARROW-1, sir."

Admiral Cutter's eyes widened at this, _'Jesus, they're gonna finish them off while they can't fight!', _he turned to Comms, "Holmes, contact them. Tell them they have to shut down and restart their engines, that EMP's effect will be nullified. It's the only way they're gonna be able to move and avoid certain death. Do it, now."

Ensign Holmes, however, was still in shock as to what she just saw, didn't move. Her eyes were glued to the screen in front of her. "REBECCA! CONTACT THEM NOW OR THEY'RE GOING TO DIE!" The sudden shouting snapped her out of her daze and she scrambled to establish communications with the five ships. She sent out one message, but there was no response. She sent out another, but no response.

The closeness of the nuke's detonation and the EMP wave were probably the culprits responsible for this lack of communications. However, UNSC ships were designed with countermeasures to combat the effects of an EMP, so the Alliance ships, which were based off the UNSC, did have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.

"T-they're not responding. I-I-I can't raise them." She stuttered out.

"1 minute 30 secs till impact!"

"Keep trying to raise them, they have to restart their engines. If they don't, they can't fire their emergency thrusters to move out of the way."

Holmes kept trying to raise the immobile Battlegroup, but still no response came from any of the ships. She mentally cursed as she tried once more to raise them.

She slammed her fists in frustration on the typing pad as she yell out, "Sir, I can't. I've tried everything I can think of to try and get ahold of them, but nothing's working. Their communications relays must have been damaged or destroyed by the nuke."

Cutter knew he had to act, there were still at least a thousand people alive on those five ships. If there was a chance to save them, he would do everything in his power to do it. He could possibly use his... no. That wasn't an option. He was going to save lives by sacrificing his ship's personnel.

He ran over to the now panicking Holmes, and kneel down next to her. "Ensign Holmes, listen. You can do this." Holmes was desperately trying to contact the ships now, her hands looked like they were typing a thousand words a minute. "Rebecca, you can raise them. I know you can. You have to try." He tried being as comforting as he could be but also tried to show the urgency in them reestablishing communications.

"Sir, Battlegroup SWORD is requesting orders."

"Tell them to pick their targets and fire at will, same with the Spirit of Fire." He turned back to Holmes, leaning close and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Holmes, it takes a Frigate 20 seconds to shut down and restart its engines. You still have plenty of times, keep trying." The Spirit of Fire's MAC gun thundered as the cannon fired, lightning striking outward as the first MAC round went flying out towards its target. 8 seconds later, another MAC round went flying out. The Destroyers fired away with their own MAC guns

He got up and went back to the holo-pad, just in time to hear, "Sir, one of the Enemy Frigates was hit by two Mini-MAC rounds. She's lost an engine and her main gun is losing power. They're evacuating the ship." No cheers were given. One enemy ship at the cost of five wasn't anything to celebrate over.

* * *

Rebecca Holmes was desperately trying to reestablish communications with the disabled Battlegroup ARROW-1. "ARROW-1, come in, over." She called out.

"45 seconds till impact with ARROW-1." An Officer shouted out.

"Damn. Damn. Damn! ARROW-1, come in. You need to restart your engines, over." She pleaded out, desperate to receive some kind of confirmation of the order from the Frigate cluster. The enemy rounds were closing in and they were running out of time. She saw an alert come up on her screen, indicating lifepods were being deployed from the Frigates. In total, she could count about 26 lifepods in total deployed from the Frigates.

She breaths a sigh of relief, there would be survivors after all.

"30 seconds till impact. Sir, I'm detecting lifepods being deployed from ARROW-1."

Cutter heard and responded to the alert, "Good, have the Minsk move in. Commence a search and rescue mission."

On the holo-pad, the icons of the lifepods were shown moving slowly away from the the battered Battlegroup. But they weren't moving fast enough for Admiral Cutter's comfort. If one of those ships' engine decided to go critical, a good portion of those lifepods would get caught in the blast.

"15 seconds till impact."

"Come on. Come on. Get away from the damn ships." Cutter muttered under his breath, watching the lifepods slowly drift away while the incoming salvo were screaming towards the doomed Frigates.

"Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

All but 2 of the MAC rounds connected with the Frigates, slamming into them and utterly devastating the ships. The SSV-'New Delhi', the worst damaged of the five, was split in half by two Mini-MACs hitting it in the center. The SSV-'Wellington' didn't fair any better, taking a 150-ton round to the engines, tearing through them. The impact caused them to critical, and the ship exploded in a fiery mini-nova. Sure enough, several lifepods were caught in the blast and winked out of existence.

There were now only 17 lifepods being shown on the holo-pad.

The other three ships, while still being hit, fared better than the New Delhi and Wellington. They were still heavily damaged and out of the fight, but their hulls were mostly intact, so they could still be repaired and brought back into service.

But that was going to take months, even a year before that happened. That and he had to win this battle first.

* * *

"Sir, the Rebel Ships are separating. I don't understand. What are they doing?"

Rear Admiral Cutter observed the holo-pad. Sure enough, the Rebel Ships were moving away from one another. He narrowed his eyes, knowing full well what they were doing, "They're trying to level the playing field some more. Trying to separate us and take us out one by one."

It wasn't a bad strategy. The goal wasn't to win. The goal was to inflict as many casualties as possible by dividing the Fleet up and picking it apart piece by piece. And so far, they've been doing a damn good job of that. But he was done taking the beating. It was time to dish it back out.

He began to formulate a plan in his mind, when a stroke of genius came to him. One straight from Admiral Cole's Playbook.

"What's the status of Battlegroup SWORD's MAC guns?"

"Sir, all guns are ready to fire."

"Good. Prep MAC guns to full charge and tell both Destroyers to prep a missile salvo and arm their nuclear warheads."

This order would have normally given pause for the Alliance Personnel, but after watching thousands of friends and family get butchered in the blink of an eye, there was only one thing on their minds. That there would be blood. That they would have payback for their comrades.

There would be _Vengeance_.

"Done. Shall I give the order to fire, Sir?"

"Negative. Tell SWORD to prepare for an immediate Slipspace Jump to these coordinates." Cutter typed in the coordinates onto the holo-pad.

Upon seeing the destination, the Officer's eyes widened, "S-sir, these coordinates will put us dangerously close to-"

"I'm aware, son. That's the idea. They'll never see it coming." Admiral Cutter actually smiled some at the devious, and risky, plan he had brewing in his mind, knowing that the Rebels won't see it coming. In the words of a more vulgar man, that Rebel Destroyer was about to have its entire world fucked up.

"All ships are ready to jump."

"Commence Jump."

3 white portals appeared in front of the trio of ships. Battlegroup SWORD entered Slipspace and disappeared from the battle, utterly confusing the ships still caught in the battle.

* * *

_**Sol System  
Alliance Parliament, London**_

"What the hell is he doing?! Did he just leave the battle?" An Alliance Politician angrily shouted, outraged by the sudden and confusing move. The sudden disappearance of the Alliance's most powerful warships shocked the entire Parliament room. None of them could make sense of what Rear Admiral Cutter was doing.

President Carlos Santiago was unnerved, to say the least, didn't dare show it to anyone in the room. He couldn't afford to look weak. However, the shocking loss of 5 Alliance warships so quickly had shaken everyone in the room. The battle had only been going on for a total of about 10 minutes and the Alliance had already loss some 2800 personnel. He was glad the Admiral had kept the Support Ships back. He didn't want to think of how many would have died if that nuke had detonated amongst the Troop Transports.

"Admiral Cole, do you have any input as to why Admiral Cutter appeared to flee the battle?"

Cole, however, didn't hear him. He was simply smiling as he watch the battle unfold on the screen. He knew full well what Cutter was doing. And it was a move right out of his playbook from the Human-Covenant War. He knew the Rebels will never see it coming.

"Simple, he didn't. This battle will be over in the next 5 minutes."

President Santiago simply looked at the man with intrigue, "And... What make you think that?"

"Because he's pulling a stunt from my own playbook, Mr. President. Trust me, this fight's about to be over."

"And what makes you so sure, Admiral?" A Politician spoke up.

Cole turned and faced the crowd, "Because I know that man better than any of you in this room. And I know he's not the type to run away from a fight. He's going to win this fight."

After he finished speaking, he turned back to the screen to continue watching the battle unfold. Santiago continued to eye the man for a little longer before he turned to the screen as well, his mind having numerous things to think about already. This Battle was already going to be a nightmare with the public.

But, then again, this could be the spark he needs to get approval from Parliament for an expansion of the Alliance Navy. 35 ships was not enough to effectively guard 14 systems. If they could raise the number to 90 or at the very least double this number, then the Alliance could be able to effective guard and protect its territory. Now he was starting to really ponder it.

If they could maintain a building average of 4 ships per system while colonizing at least 2 systems every year, then hopefully the Alliance navy would have a standing force of some 380 ships, give or take, by the year 2150. Alliance scientist have already estimated that they should encounter an Alien Civilization by the year 2150, and the words of both Cutter and Cole were both ringing in his head that they should be prepared for the worst when that day comes.

In the words of a famous United States President, speak softly and carry a big stick. Wouldn't hurt to have a few big ones on first contact, right?

* * *

_**05.29.2105  
Serpent Nebula  
Widow System  
Council Chambers, Citadel**_

_"On behalf of the Batarian Hegemony, I thank you for allowing me to have an audience with you today, Councilors." _The Batarian Ambassador spoke.

In front of him on raised platforms, stood the councilors of the Citadel. The three most powerful people in the known Galaxy, representing the three most powerful races in the known Galaxy. Councilor Hyleen, of the Turian Hierarchy. Councilor Kilish, of the Salarian Union. And Councilor Tevos, of the Asari Republics. They were the collective heads of the Citadel Council, the ones who made the final decision on all key issues of the Galaxy. Such as the one they were hearing out today.

_"Ambassador Gulen, I hope whatever you demanded this meeting for is worth our time." _Councilor Kilish replied, narrowing his eyes as if to get the point across.

_"I assure you, Councilor. I would not be hear if the issue was not a serious one."_

_"Then, speak."_

_"Very well." _The Batarian tapped a few commands onto his Omni-tool and a projector screened a rocky planet with several Supply Depots around it, _"This is Rugon-1, just one of 4 of our Resupply Center bordering the Perseus Veil. We established these supply centers in case we needed to set up a defense against a Geth Assault."_

'Bullshit. Those are where you process slaves captured in those regions of the Terminus System.' Was what Councilor Hyleen was thinking, but didn't speak aloud. He wasn't in the mood to listen to the Batarian screech about their slave practice being a Batarian Cultural Heritage or whatever the hell they called it.

He personally didn't hated the Batarians, just their backwards Civilization as a whole. The very idea of owning slaves disgusted him. He wanted nothing more than to overthrow their oppressive regime, but Tevos was unwilling to start a war in the Terminus System, and Kilish didn't seem to care one way or the other. His hands were effectively tied. So, whatever was giving the Batarians hell was okay in his book, as long as it didn't cross over to Citadel Space.

_"Roughly 1 week ago, the 9th Fleet was conducting a patrol in the region and traveled to the Kandul System, where they were attacked and destroyed by an Unknown Fleet."_

This caught the Council's attention. Tevos finally spoke up, _"Who attacked the Fleet? Was it the Geth?" _Had they finally decided to leave the Perseus Veil and start venturing outward? Goddess help them if they had.

_"This is what we thought at first, but a single cruiser, Fiery Glory, survived the engagement and reported that the ships didn't match any known Geth signatures. The Fleet was compromised of 15 ships, all of them being massive, with even one of them being 6 km in length."_

_"Impossible. There's no way a ship of that size could exist. The Eezo needed to power such a monster would be ridiculous." _Kilish spoke, obviously not convinced, as did the other Councilors.

Ambassador Gulen tapped another command on his Omni-tool, and the projector screened a photo of a massive purple ship, bulbous and very strange in design to the Councilors.

_"I assure you, Councilors, I'm not making this up. I didn't believe it myself when I was told about it until I was shown the combat video recorded from a scout probe during the battle." _He pressed a button and the projector began to play the probe's recording.

* * *

The Council watched in silence as the video showed the battle between the two Fleets. The Batarians were firing everything in their arsenal at the massive warships, but the Unknowns seemed to have incredibly advance barriers. None of the ship's barriers seemed to break under the onslaught of fire as the Batarian Fleet fired round after round into the hostile ships.

Then the Unknowns returned fire.

In a display that visibly shocked the Council, the Unknown Ships fired with what appeared to be Plasma Weaponry, tearing through the Batarian ships as if they were nothing. They tore through the armor, setting numerous ships ablaze and alight. The cruisers and dreadnoughts attempted to pull back so they could fire their main weapons, but something happened before they could.

The massive warship opened fire with a dozen bluish color blobs of plasma that flew through space towards their targets. The Frigates tried to shoot them down with their GUARDIAN lasers, but were shown to be ineffective against the strange weapons. They continued towards their targets. After a few more moments, all but one of the dozen projectiles connected with their targets. The results were gruesome to say the least. One Dreadnought was cleaved in half as the Plasma burned and melted away the armor of the 1 km vessel. A Cruiser was hit in the engines and set alight, exploding into a fiery mini-nova. All the other vessels met similar fates before the video ended.

_"The Cruiser fled to Rugon-1 and reported the incident to the local Garrison, each of which were comprised of 20 Frigates and 10 Cruisers for each of the Resupply Centers. 3 days later, All four systems were attacked simultaneously. We don't have any video of the battles, but I do have photos of the aftermath of these battles."_

He pressed a button on his Omni-tool and the picture of Rugon-1 changed from a rocky planet with several settlements shown dotting the planet, to a wartorn planet. All the settlements were scorched craters, the massive Resupply Centers in orbit were nothing more than fiery wreckage, along with the corpses of the slain Batarian warships. All three of the Councilors were left speechless by the carnage being shown to them. Tevos, mortified, had her hand raised halfway, almost as if she was going to cover her mouth in shock.

* * *

_"It's the same case for all of the Resupply Systems. This has been a massive, devastating blow to our Military capacity in the Northern Terminus Systems. We won't be able to effectively operate in these areas for at least 10 years." _

Gulen was fairly certain that he had them sold, and they would lend support to the Hegemony. It was a good thing they left out the part about the Quarians being in the System, but in all likelihood they wouldn't have cared. Now, they could get some payback on these _Bastards_ who dared insult and attacked the Hegemony. Nobody gets away with that.

Hyleen was impressed. Those weapons were far more advance than anything the Council Races had. That kind of technology was something to die for. He could only imagine what the Hierarchy could do with those weapons. And while he wouldn't admit it aloud, he was glad someone was knocking the Batarians down a couple notches.

Kilish would love to get his hands on that technology as well. This was obviously not some newcomer race they were dealing with. Those ships were massive and were superior to anything the Citadel Races had. He needed to get some more info on these Newcomers and find out just how powerful they are and what the STG could do to get their hands on their technology.

Tevos, was unnerved to say the least about this apparently violent race. They needed to be either reasoned with or dealt with before this turned into another Rachni War. While she didn't love the Batarians' slave-loving Empire, she knew that if they fell apart, the whole Terminus Systems would fall into anarchy. While the technology was impressive, she wasn't sure if this new race would be willing to negotiate and submit to the Citadel Council.

Ambassador Gulen, noticing the look on their faces, decided to seal the deal. He spoke up once more, _"There was one more thing. When we entered the systems, a message was left in each system. The message was the same in every system." _

He typed a command onto his Omni-tool, and the message played.

_'Attention Batarian fiends, your wretched days of a Slave-Driven Empire are numbered. We will rid this Galaxy of your filth. We are the Swords and Shields of the Great Journey. We are the Covenant.'_

The Covenant? Great Journey? Was this actually a coalition of races and not just one? This was quickly deteriorating into a dangerous situation. But what was said next sent nerve-shattering shivers down the Council's spines.

_'Your destruction is the will of the Gods. And we are their instruments.'  
_

* * *

**_30 minutes later  
Private Chambers_**

_"This is a very disturbing matter. We need to decide quickly on what our course of action is." _Tevos spoke. The three Councilors were seated at a small round table in what was basically a private room for the Council to retreat to if they didn't want to be bothered.

Hyleen scoffed, _"I say let them kick down the Batarians a few more notches before we step in."_

_"Are you insane? If the Hegemony falls-"_

_"Then the Terminus Systems will go on like nothing happened. Those lawless systems haven't change in 2000 years, why would they now? Just because some new race comes in and kicks out the Batarians? That doesn't mean they're gonna lash out at us for it. Hell, Aria will probably sit there in her little fortress and laugh about the whole ordeal."_

_"I agree with Hyleen. Their Oppressive-Government should have been taken down centuries ago. I say we let the... 'Covenant' beat down the Batarians. Not just outright destroy them, but weaken them enough so that they might not have enough of Military Capacity to maintain order in their Territory. And then, we'll step in and negotiate a peace treaty between the two."_ Councilor Kilish piped in.

Tevos wasn't surprised by Kilish taking sides with Hyleen. He would take sides with whichever side would benefit the Salarian Union more. The chance of the STG acquiring advance technology that was far greater than anything they had ever seen before was too good to pass up. That is, if they could get their hands on it first and if the Batarians could actually take down one of these 'Covenant' ships, which they didn't seem to be able to at the moment.

But Tevos knew that the technology, and this was just from what she saw from the video, that the 'Covenant' were using was far more advance than even the Asari Republics. Anyone of the massive warships looked like they would tear apart anything the Asari Navy had. As much as she didn't want to, it maybe was time to expand and upgrade the Asari Military. She knew the other Councilors were already thinking this thought, and the Asari needed to keep their edge over the other races.

Hyleen was seeing this as a golden opportunity to take down the Hegemony and increase Citadel influence in the Terminus Systems. Plus, there were bound to be some Covenant Ships lost in the conflict, ships that could be studied and reverse-engineered to leap Turian Society forward by hundreds of year, making them a powerhouse, no... _the _powerhouse of the Galaxy.

Tevos sighed, knowing that she had been outvoted by the other two Councilors, _"Despite that, we can't sit here and do nothing throughout the conflict. We have to lend support or we'll appear to the other races that we don't support our allies in times of need." _

Hyleen once again scoffed, _"Tell that to the Quarians." _Unlike most Turians, he didn't hate the Quarians. Did they break the law? Yes, but it wasn't intentional. Do they deserve to go extinct over this? No. It was an accident plain and simple.

Tevos glared at him, _"They broke Galactic Law when they created the Geth. Their punishment was completely just for the illegal creation of AIs."_

_"Regardless, we will lend just enough support to keep the other races quiet, while at the same time, it won't be enough to turn the tide in the Hegemony's favor. We'll patrol their systems and give them a heads up if we catch wind At the same time, STG will lie in wait, shadowing the Batarian Fleets and waiting for them to engage this 'Covenant'. When the battles are over, they'll go in and salvage the wrecks for anything valuable. Weapons, Armor, Databanks, etc."_

Kilish leaned in, bringing his hands together, _"It seems reasonable. I think it's a sound strategy. It should get us some major technological advancements, or at least a couple eye-opening techs. How much support will we give them?"_

Tevos went deep in thought, trying to see what kind of support the Republics would give the Hegemony. She knew the Republics wouldn't be too keen on giving the Slavers any form of support, especially since they had a fondness for Asari slaves. She figured the most they would be willing to send was a Patrol Fleet's worth of ships.

After giving it much thought, Tevos spoke up, _"We could send 4 Patrol Fleets, 1 Asari, 3 Turian; along with an STG element totaling 8 ships, Cruiser-Class. All in all, the total would compromise of about 14 Asari, 42 Turian, and 8 STG ships. In terms of ground forces, I don't think we should provide any. Batarians aren't the most popular people in the Galaxy, and placing boots on the ground on colonies that are bound to have slaves on them is asking to for an incident to happen." _

Hyleen nodded, _"Fair enough. How long should we wait before talking about negotiating a peace treay?"_

_"1... 2 months maximum_._" _Kilish assured, confident in that statement, which also stated his sureness that this conflict won't be that long.

Tevos didn't look so certain. She spoke up once more, _"I'm still not fully convinced this is the path we should take. I think that if one of our Fleets encounter this 'Covenant', we should open communications with them first, try diplomacy before resorting to violence." _

_"Very well, but I'm not convinced that they'll listen much." _Hyleen spoke, _"If there is nothing else, I'd say this meeting is __adjourned. We should go tell the Batarian Ambassador our decision." _

They all rose from the table and set about to return to the Council Chambers, Kilish stopped when he received a message on his Omni-tool, that read top secret. He opened up the message and read it.

* * *

_/Priority Message__\  
/To: Councilor Kilish\  
/From: __STG Black Ops: 5th &amp; 6th Battalions[]Jerlys System, Terminus Systems\  
/Operation: Revelations\  
__/Security Level: OMEGA\_

_/Message Details:_

_Councilor, our progress at the Facility is still proceeding, albeit at a slow pace. __The security of the Space Station is proving more complex than previously expected._

_ Our scientist have been conducting test on the site, and have come to a startling conclusion. This facility isn't Prothean in origin. In fact, they claim the site is at least 100,000 years old. This site predates the Protheans and must have belong to a Civilization that came before them. Another surprising discovery is that despite the age of the facility, it appears to still have power and is still operating, and it doesn't run on Element Zero. We're still trying to figure out how this is possible, but most of the doors are heavily locked and secured. _

_Ever since we discovered the site a year ago, we've been able to access and explore roughly 15% of the Facility, due to its massive size and our limited numbers. I'm requesting another 2 Battalions of STG to help in the exploration of the site._

_We have also had a new development in the exploration of the Facility. We've come into contact with what appear to be some kind of Security Drones that are present in the Facility. We're not convinced that their AIs, but they're far more advanced than some mere VI program. A couple of instance, we were engaged by these drones and lost several soldiers to them every time we come into contact with them. But, if we retreat, they don't pursue us. It's as if they don't want us here and want us to leave. Nonetheless, we've continued our exploration and have quickly come up with countermeasures to combat these drones. _

_On a side note, I've been having this strange feeling every time we enter the Facility, like we're being watched. And I don't mean by the drones. I'm fully convinced that something else is in the Facility, watching and waiting. For what, I don't know. But we'll continue to explore the site and update you on any new developments._

_End Message\_

* * *

Kilish was pleased for the most part about the update, albeit worried a little about the drones. As for the mention of being watched... well, all soldiers get cold feet every now and then, so he didn't think much of it.

This was the Salarian Union's most heavily guarded secret. Only himself and the STG units involved knew about the site, some kind of Facility orbiting a Gas Giant in the Jerlys System.

He started typing on his Omni-tool, and wrote back a reply.

_/Excellent news. Keep sending updates every 2 weeks on your progress. As for the request for Reinforcements, approved. However, they will not be able to arrive for about a week due to recent developement.\_

After he finished typing, he sent the message and proceeded back outside to catch up with the other Councilors to inform the Batarian Ambassador of their decision.

He just hope this wouldn't come back and bite the Citadel Council in the collective ass.

* * *

**And that's all for this chapter. Left the battle between the Alliance and the Rebels on a bit of a cliffhanger, and introduced****the Citadel Council finally, which will go over changes and different leaders as the years progress. We will go back to the battle of Terra Nova, as well as show the battle on the groundside. The Covenant's war with the Batarians won't last, but things are heating up. And the new found Alliance with the Quarians will be explored in more detail next chapter. **

**BTW, thanks again for all the support and input that's been given. I just wanted to go ahead and thank a few people who actual sent me a private message and either gave me some ideas to explore for the future or gave me some constructive criticism and pointed out some flaws in my story that needed to be fixed. **

* * *

**StarSerpent- Thank you for taking the time to pm me and pointing out some key flaws in my story. I know that marathon of a message must have taken forever to write.**

**War Cry- You pm me and gave me some pretty awesome ideas for me to consider and I'm definitely going to use a couple of them in the future. **

**revan913- You asked me a couple key canon questions that influenced what I will write into future chapters.**

**project 501D13R- You pointed out the flaws in my original MAC numbers and made me realized just how OP they were. **

* * *

**Thank you all for your support and input for my story. It really helps out when the fans write the author and give input or call out some flaws in the story. I hope you continue to show this support and encourage others to do the same in future chapters.**

**As for my earlier statement of possibly pursuing a minor romance in the story, I've decided against it for now. I'm going to focus on building the story up and setting the stage for the events of the Mass Effect Games. I'm already starting to think this story will have to be split into two separate stories.**

**Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed. See you next time. :)**


	5. Gunboat Diplomacy

**Hey guys, welcome back. I have some interesting news to tell you that I think you might like. **

**First off, I am considering dividing this into a 3 Book series. Haven't decided yet, but would love your imput on this. I'm also going to add a codex in the future (probably as a separate book.) to help everyone understand this new Mass Effect Universe.**

**Second off, I just thought I'd let you guys know that this chapter is going to be the final one set in 2105. We've been kinda dragging on the Covenant's rampage through the Terminus Systems and the Terra Nova incident. The next chapter won't jump ahead to much I hope, but it will more than likely jump ahead by at least 10 years. (Alert, there will be a short timeline for those who don't like them.) This Chapter is more than likely going to be a little longer than the previous. (By at least 3,000 words.)**

**Thirdly, some of you are under a impression I felt I needed to discuss. The Salarians haven't found a Halo. But they have found a Forerunner Facility, I'm just not going into detail as to what exactly.**

**Anyway, now that that's out of the way, Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Now that that's out of the way. **

**I don't own Halo or Mass Effect**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**_05.24.2105 - 9:30 a.m SAT (Standard Alliance Time)  
10:30 a.m Local Time  
Sirius System  
Kelvic's Orbit, 326,000 km from Terra Nova  
SSV-Stalingrad Bridge_**

"Where the hell did they go?" Captain Negasi Ruphael spoke, wondering what the hell the Alliance Commander was doing. Was he retreating? No. The Alliance Frigates were still fighting and firing their weapons at them, so they couldn't of been retreating. The Republic had lost one ship, the Frigate 'Malta', but now they could possibly win this fight. Whatever the Alliance heavy ships went, they had bought the Republic ships precious time to finish off the remaining enemy Frigates, further increasing the chances of winning the battle. They seemed to be having unprecedented luck today.

In truth, Negasi being in charge of this ship now was sheer luck. When the Governor of Terra Nova had told him of plans to succeed from the Alliance, he wanted in almost immediately. His family in Ethiopia had been killed by raiders 2 years prior, and the Alliance didn't do anything about it. He wanted justice.

And he found it.

Taking the Alliance Destroyer and its escorts while they had been on patrol in the system had been incredible risky and costly. They timed the uprising to coincide with the arrival of the small task force. They had used a barrage of transports, as well as several crewmembers on board the vessels sympathetic, or being blackmailed, to overwhelm the Alliance military staff and take over the ships. The Captain had been taken out so quickly, he had been unable to get rid of the SHIVA nuke or its activation codes on board, which had only given the Republic one more weapon to fight back with.

And now he was in charge of 4 Military vessels trying to defend a revolting colony of 1.2 million against a force 51 million soldiers and 30 something ships.

They had lost one ship, but considering they've taken out 5 of the Alliance ships, the kill/death ratio was... acceptable. It still hurt to see friends and comrades getting killed, but at least most of the people on board had been able to evacuate. Now, time to see this fight to its conclusion. The Republic Frigates were moving out and were going to attempt to flank the enemy Frigates, while the 'Stalingrad' continued firing away with its MAC gun.

Now, where the fuck did those damn heavy ships go?

* * *

"Captain, we have picked up some energy readings about 300 kilometers to our 10 O'clock."

"Can we identify?"

"Yes, sir. One moment." Even though they knew how to pilot ships, that didn't mean they were experienced with Military ships.

They're systems commenced to scan the energy reading, when suddenly 3 white portals appeared in front of the 'Stalingrad'. Ruphael's eyes widened in horror as he watched the SSV-'Spirit of Fire', 'Gettysburg', and 'Somme' appear out of Slipspace. Now, too late, he realized what the Admiral was doing.

He screamed out for the ship to turn towards the oncoming Dreadnought, but the ship would never turn in time.

* * *

_**Spirit of Fire  
B**__**ridge**_

"That's right, you son of a bitch." Rear Admiral James Cutter smiled before turning to the weapons station, "MAC gun, FIRE!"

The Spirit's MAC Gun thundered to life as the 150 ton slug screamed out towards the 'Stalingrad', causing the entire ship to shutter. 3 seconds later, the round slammed into the stern of the Destroyer, tearing the engines apart. The sudden impact lurched the ship and caused it to tilt downward as the speed of its turn was sped up.

"Second round, fire!" Cutter roared out as the MAC Gun roared once more, sending another slug down towards the Destroyer. The second round slammed into the Destroyer's MAC Gun, tearing apart the weapon and rendering it useless.

"Spirit of Fire, move in, prepare broadside weapons and launch missile barrage. Destroyers 'Gettysburg' and 'Somme', pursue enemy Frigates and take them down."

The holo-pad showed the two Destroyers moving out and launching missiles at the Rebel Frigates, before firing their broadside deck guns. The Spirit of Fire fired its own missile barrage and broadside deck guns at the crippled Destroyer. The 'Stalingrad' tried desperately to shoot down the missiles and defend itself from the onslaught, but was overwhelmed by the firepower sent its way. A couple hundred missiles connected with the hull and multiple explosions dotted the warship. The 100mm rounds slammed into the Bridge section of the ship, compromising the hull and venting the atmosphere, killing everyone inside.

"Sir, Stalingrad has been neutralized. Gettysburg and Somme are reporting enemy Frigates are neutralized as well."

Cutter turned back to the holo-pad, "Good. Tell ARROW-2 to move in and prepare for groundside fire support. Battlegroup SHIELD is clear to move in and deploy Marines groundside."

Cutter pulled out his Data-pad and typed in some commands, "ODST and RED Team, prepare for Combat Drop in T-minus 15 minutes."

He turned to one of the Officers on the Bridge next to him, "What's the status of Alliance ground forces already fighting?"

"Sir, most Regiments have been routed. The 294th Regiment of the 31st Marine Division is trying to hold onto Fort Gilgamesh near the town of Devos, about 72 km Northwest of Yukima City. They're outnumbered 3 to 1 by Rebel Forces. The nearest unit would be the 85th ACR of the 10th Mechanized Division, about 20 km West of the base. Other than that, all other Regiments and the Terra Nova Colonial Guards have been routed or are combat ineffective."

"Alright, then. We'll focus the majority of our deployment in that region, create a Front in which to push back the Rebels to the Capital."

The Holo-pad changed to show the geography surrounding Fort Gilgamesh. Lush, hilly, green forest surrounded the Fort to the North and West. Grasslands stretched out for miles to the East and South. Multiple red dots were shown surrounding the Fort from 3 separate directions, while the Marines were shown in blue holding off the onslaught.

The Fort itself was a basic design for Colonial Forts, with several Barracks and Motor Pools for the vehicles. A large Building was in the center and served as the Office for where the Officers went about their jobs. The Fort was surrounded by barbed wire and several tank traps to keep out unwanted guest. And for now, they were doing their job.

Cutter narrowed his eyes, "Tell Battlegroup SHIELD to double-time it and have our ship do the same. We got Marines who need our help."

* * *

_**05.24.2105 - 9:43 a.m SAT (Standard Alliance Time)  
**__**Sol System  
**__**London, UK, Earth  
**__**Alliance Parliament**_

"Oh thank god." A Parliament Politician, from Western Europe, spoke up, her face showered with relief, "This nightmare battle has ended."

"No, I don't think so."

"What? You saw yourself, the enemy fleet is vanquished. We've won." A Politician from Southeastern Asia replied.

Admiral Preston J. Cole turned and faced the Politicians, "What we've won was the Space Battle and the opening engagement in the Terra Nova Campaign. Now, the ground war begins." A few seconds after this statement, he scrunched his face up before returning it to normal and speaking up again, "No, the ground war had already begun. It's now just going to get worse."

He turned to President Carlos Santiago, "And after this nightmare of a Naval Battle, the Alliance Navy is going to need some seasoned Naval Instructors to help guide the future generations."

The President beamed up at this, surprised and glad at this change of heart. "So, this means you'll be a Naval Instructor?"

Cole nodded, "Yes, Mr. President. I'll be a Naval Instructor for the Systems Alliance. But I'm not returning to the Military."

President Santiago chuckled softly, "Don't worry, Admiral. I know when not to press my luck."

"I will say this, though." He paused, glancing back at the screen of the television before looking back at the President, "If we encounter an Alien race within my lifetime, I will return to the Navy to defend Earth and her Colonies. I won't stand for us to get into another Great War with us being on the losing end. Not if I can help it." The look on the War Hero's face showed this wasn't just a statement, this was a promise. He didn't seem like the type of man who would go back on his word. Santiago smiled a little.

The President extended his hand and spoke, "I'm glad to hear that, Admiral. Welcome to the Systems Alliance."

Admiral Cole took the man's hand and shook it, allowing himself the faintest of smiles. "Thank you, Mr. President."

* * *

_**05.24.2105 - 11:07 a.m Local Time  
Fort Gilgamesh  
Southern Perimeter**_

"Keep your fucking heads down! They got snipers!" Shouted the Sergeant as he fired away with his FN-82 SCAR assault rifle. The squad's entrenched position would protect them from rifle fire, but what they needed was armor support. Sergeant Gustavo Dias was in charge of a 32 man platoon that once numbered 52 men. The remnants of his platoon, and the Regiment, fell back to Fort Gilgamesh, covering the retreat of several other severely devastated Regiments. The only other Regiment that could help them that he knew of was the 85th Armored Combat Regiment.

And they needed help right now.

"Private, where the hell's our Reinforcements?" He fired once more, killing a couple rebels with the burst from his rifle.

"The 85th's not coming, Sergeant."

"Why the hell not?! We need their Armor to hold the Fort."

"The 85th's saying that it's too dangerous to get the Armor into the Fort."

"It's a fucking warzone. Being dangerous tends to happen!"

"I'm sorry, Sergeant. But they said we're on our own for now."

"Goddammit!" Dias roared as he ducked in cover from a burst of automatic fire.

* * *

The Rebels had the Regiment in a Pincer Maneuver, albeit a very disorganized one but a pincer nonetheless. While most of the Rebels were equipped with whatever they got their hands on, some of the Rebels were carrying an AK-147, the last design of the AK series rifles built on the 100th Anniversary of the weapon's conception. The difference was that the 147 fired 7.62x51mm instead of 7.62x39mm, and had alot more range and stopping power compare to its ancestor. They fire 30 or 40 round magazines or can be equipped with a 100 round box magazine.

The Marines were equipped with the FN-82 SCAR, Specialized Combat Assault Rifle, the standard issue rifle of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps. Developed in 2082 as part of the Alliance's attempt to standardized the Military, the SCAR wouldn't be fully intergrated into the Alliance Military until 2090, having massive popularity with the Marine Corp for its ruggedness and reliability. Equipped with a 40 round magazine of 7.62x51mm, the SCAR had stopping power and range over its competitors.

* * *

Dias fired another burst from his SCAR, not hitting anyone but causing several Rebels to duck in cover from the automatic fire. The 28 year old Brazilian cursed under his breath, mainly cursing the 85th ACR for leaving them high and dry. They could hold the Fort, that he was certain. The Rebel's assault was largely disorganized, but the sheer numbers would eventually eat up their ammunition. And he wasn't looking forward to any hand to hand combat.

Two more Marines were killed as a group of 5 Rebels pushed up, trying to get close so they could lob in some grenades. They were put down by the collective fire of a dozen Marines.

"Sergeant, I got eyes on an enemy sniper." Corporal Fredrick Williams spoke up, looking down the battlefield with the scope of a M392 DMR. He was one of the few Marines in the 294th that had gotten his hands on the new weapon. In his opinion, the M392 was a reliable rifle, perfect for mid-long range combat with incredible accuracy and killing power. The 19 year old American steadied his breathing before pulling the trigger. The DMR kicked as the round went out of the barrel, traveling 500 meters before connecting with the Rebels head, dropping him instantly.

"He's down."

"Good shot, Williams."

Dias turned back to the Marines, "Listen up. We're gonna hold here with the rest of the Company while the medics evac the wounded to the hospital. We'll lay do-"

His voice trailed off as he saw several fiery lights in the sky, coming straight down into the Fort itself. At first, Dias thought with horror that the Rebels were firing artillery at the base, but they were too high up to be artillery shells. Then he began to worry they were missiles from the orbiting Rebel ships. But as they got closer, he realized that they were black pods, descending from the heavens. There must have been some 200 pods in total.

"What the hell is that?"

The first of the pods slammed into the dirt, followed by dozens of others every second. Everyone of the drop pods landed on the ground, before the pods bursts open and unloaded each of their deadly cargo.

The ODST had joined the fight.

* * *

Staff Sergeant James Hudson jumped out of his drop pod, wielding his MA5C Assault Rifle in his hands, with a M7S as backup, and open fire on the Rebel forces. The other ODST left their pods and joined in on the fight. Hudson moved towards a group of Alliance Marines and slid into a kneeling position in the cover.

"Who's in charge?"

"I am." Sergeant Dias stepped up, or rather crouched up. "Sergeant Dias, Able Company, 11th Marine Battalion, 294th Regiment. Who the hell are you?"

"Staff Sergeant Hudson, Talon Company, 35th ODST Battalion."

"ODST?" A Marine spoke up.

"Orbital Drop Shock Troopers."

One of the Marines noticed the Marines Logo on Hudson's shoulder. "You're Alliance Marines?"

"Yea, we're Marines, like you. Just better training and gear." He looked pass Sergeant Dias and spoke into his headset, "7th Squad, regroup on my position."

* * *

11 more ODST Marines moved towards the Staff Sergeant's location, firing downrange at the Rebel forces trying to take them down. Several Rebels went down as they engaged the UNSC's elite. The screech of a jet fighter's engines were heard overhead, before the earth shook with several thunderous booms. Dust clouds were kicked up everywhere as a pair of GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptors flew over the base, having dropped a multitude of bombs and missiles over Rebel locations. Earth, metal, and body parts were sent raining down on the heads of the Rebels and the Marines.

The damage was done, and it was enough to route the majority of the Rebel forces and send them retreating. The Alliance Marines saw this and starting cheering and shooting at the retreating forms of the Rebels.

"Whoa.."

"Holy shit!"

"Hell yeah!"

"That's right, fuckers. Run and hide!"

"Oorah! That's what I'm talking about."

These were meerly a few of the cheers and chants that came from the Marines as they pushed up and secured the Fort's perimeter. Corporal Williams looked up and saw a Fleet of Pelicans coming down with various equipment in the back of the Dropships, such as tanks or M12 Warthogs, or were equipped with a Troop Deployment Pod. While many pilots in the Alliance liked the older C-181 Sparrow, many more pilots had fallen in love with the D77-TC Pelican. The Pelican had much better armor, firepower, and while it wasn't as agile or fast as the Sparrow, it was still decent enough in those fields.

Hudson looked back and spoke to the Marines of Able Company. "Listen up, Marines. The Calvary has arrived, but your mission isn't over just yet. We're here for one reason and one reason only. We're gonna retake Terra Nova from the Rebels and grind them into the fucking ground. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sergeant." Came the unified voice. Hudson wasn't convinced, though, and decided to give a little encouragement. "Where's that fucking Oorah, Marines?!"

"Oorah."

"I can't hear shit from you! Oorah?!"

"OORAH!"

Now they were motivated, with a grinning Sergeant Dias in the back watching. Williams now had a look of determination on his face. Hell, maybe they would survive this shitstorm now. He watched as a Fleet of Pelicans came down and brought in reinforcements and supplies. It was at this moment that Sergeant Dias realized that this was the start.

The Liberation of Terra Nova had begun.

* * *

_**06.05.2105  
Vallhallan Threshold  
**__**Raheel-Leyya System  
**__**Migrant Fleet  
**__**Quarian Liveship 'Rayya'**_

The Admiralty Board was nervous and completely on edge today. Why? Because today, they were having the pleasure of meeting a completely new and completely unknown Alien Race that, according to Captain Kelan'Hamr vas Hirule, had weapons and technology that were leaps and bounds ahead of anything even the Citadel Council had and devastated a Batarian Heavy Fleet of nearly 50 ships with a fleet of just 15. Granted, these ships were massive, but they were still skeptical about the sizes reported in the statement.

And they would be hear any minute now. Both the Patrol and Heavy Fleets were in key defensive positions all around the Civilian Fleet. If they lost just one of the three Liveships, millions of Quarians would starve. So of course, everyone was on edge.

"Admirals, our sensors are picking strange energy readings. They're larger than anything we've ever recorded." A young Officer spoke to the Board.

Admiral Delun'Rallen spoke, _"Then that must be them. Have all the Military Ships be ready and on standby."_

They waited as they watched the projection of the Fleets position in comparison to the space around them. Suddenly, 14 Portals appeared out of nowhere roughly 1000 km away from the Migrant Fleet. A massive 6 km Warship spearheaded the Battlegroup of 14 ships. Every Quarian in the Migrant Fleet collectively dropped their jaws at the sight of such colossal ships.

The Covenant Assault Carrier 'Walk of Divinity' exited Slipspace with its Battlegroup of 2 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Heavy Destroyers, and 7 Battlecruisers.

How the hell could such massive ships exist? And where the hell did they come from? The amount of Element Zero that would be needed to fuel those monsters would be insanely large. Then Delun remembered. The Captain had stated that these Aliens don't use Element Zero or the Mass Relays. So what in the hell did they use?

_"A-Admirals. We're being h-hailed by the Alien Fleet."_

The Admiralty Board looked at one another, nervous. But, they all nodded. Delun'Rallen finally spoke up, _"Patch them through."_

* * *

There was silence at first, before the radio came to life, _'Greetings Quarians. My name is Hurok Wattinree, Fleetmaster of the Covenant First Fleet of Divine Fury. I am... requesting permission to dock a dropship with your vessel to commence in diplomacy with your leadership.'_

_"This is Admiral Delun'Rallen vas Olrynier, Head of the Admiralty Board. You have permission to board. You may bring a personal escort for the Diplomats."_

_'Understood, Admiral. We will be there in 30 minutes.'_

* * *

_**Walk of Divinty-Hangar**_

Fleetmaster Hurok Wattinree walked down into the vehicle bay of the hangar. The hangar had a vast array of space fighters and dropships. 6 Type-26 Banshee, the Exoatmospheric variant of the infamous Type-26 Banshee, were being deployed ahead of the dropship that was being prepped for launch, a Type-44 Phantom.

A relatively new design, the Type-44 was designed to replace the old Type-25 Spirit, which has been in service for over 100 years. More heavily armed and armored than its predecessor, with one Type-44 DEW/M and two Type-52 Plasma Cannons, the Phantom was built with Ground Support in mind. It was also equipped with a extendable boarding umbilical that was use for boarding and docking with ships.

Next to the dropship were a group of 14 warriors. 4 Sangheili, 5 Kig-yar, and 5 Unggoy. Hurok had decided against bringing along the Mgalekgolo, remembering being told about how small the Quarian ship's corridors and hallways were. He didn't think the Quarians would appreciate it much if he brought aboard 12 foot monsters that went about making massive dents in their hulls.

Normally, the Covenant would have just intimidated and bullied a new species into joining the Covenant, but their current situation meant that they needed to be smart about how they approached a new species. While the situation with the Batarians was accidental, it didn't change the fact that the four-eyes chose to open fire instead of trying to communicate.

The Quarians, however, were a different case. From what he had been told, they were fantastic Engineers, even better than the Yanme'e and only surpassed by the Huragok in ingenuity. They could be very useful to the Covenant, but they couldn't just bully them into submission. Hurok simply didn't have the numbers for that and fighting the Batarians at the same time. Plus, unlike the Batarians or the Citadel Council, he couldn't replace his ships. Not yet.

That was where the Quarians came in. That, and he had already found a Planet where they could rebuild the Covenant and the Quarian people.

* * *

_"Fleetmaster, we are ready to depart when you are." _One of the Sangheili spoke, a Major clan in Maroon Armor as were the other two.

_"Then let us depart. And remember, we're to show restraint while on board. We cannot afford to start another war."_

He stepped into the Phantom and spoke to the pilot, _"Take off."_

The group stepped onto the Phantom. The dropship's engines roared to life as it lifted off the ground. Ahead of it, a flight of six Type-27 Banshees, the Exoatmospheric version of the infamous fighter, flew out and formed two flights of three around the Phantom as they exited the hangar. The sortie of seven aircraft exited the hangar and flew off towards the Quarian Migrant Fleet.

* * *

_**06.05.2105  
Omega Nebula  
**__**Fathar System  
**__**Lorek  
22nd Turian Patrol Fleet**_

Lorek was the 1st Planet in the Fathar System, in the Omega Nebula. Founded by the Asari back in 1764, it was annexed by the Batarian Hegemony in 1913, which cause a minor galactic incident. Tidally locked to the star Fathar, with a sunward facing 'hot' pole and a shadowed 'cold' pole, and has a 300 mile stretch of Terminator Zone that is inhabitable, with numerous islands under constant thunderstorms. With some 4,500,000 inhabitants living on it, Lorek was a strategically world to the Hegemony, with many mining and industrial complexes that fueled the Hegemony's economy.

This was why the Batarians had station the 3rd Heavy Fleet to defend the Planet, along with some 550,000 soldiers on the ground. With 45 Frigates, 42 Cruisers, and 3 Dreadnoughts, it was one of the most powerful Fleets in the Hegemony.

And this was why one of the Turians' 3 Support Fleets were being stationed over the Planet to bolster its defenses.

The 22nd Patrol Fleet had a long history of successful pirate hunting in the edges of the Terminus System that bordered Citadel Space. 14 ships, 6 Cruisers and 8 Frigates, made up the Fleet normally, but the recent reports about the Covenant's onslaught against the Batarians had the Hierarchy concerned, so they chose to bolster the Support Fleets sent to the Hegemony. The 22nd now compromised of 1 Dreadnought, 12 Cruisers, and 9 Frigates. 22 ships in total. The Dreadnoughts, normally held in reserve for a major assault, was viewed as a necessity if the Turians were to get into conflict with the Covenant.

The Dreadnought stationed with the 22nd was an Opoldus-Class called the 'Indomitable'.

Opoldus-Class Dreadnought were an older design, roughly 20 years old, but were a tried and tested design. At roughly 1.4 km in length, they were among the largest warships the Turians had ever produced, with the standard grey coloring and red painted on the tips. Equipped with two Mass Accelerator Cannons that ran the length of the ship's 'spine' and numerous mass drivers on its flanks, they were more than a match for any warship unfortunate enough to fight them. They were also the most heavily armored warships ever constructed, with an unheard of 1.2 meters of armor, which would have been seen as absurd in the past.

The Admiral in charge of the 22nd was hoping its armor and firepower would be enough to protect them.

* * *

_**Turian Dreadnought 'Indomitable'-Bridge**_

Admiral Joran Qui'in spoke to the Batarian Admiral with annoyance, _"Admiral Balken, I'm merely suggesting that it would be a good idea to at least have some evactuation plans in order should the Covenant arrive."_

The Batarian sneered, _"And I am telling you that isn't nessecary. If those Covenant Bastards step one foot in this system and dare pick a fight with my fleet, they're going to regret it. They won't be able to land a single dropship onto Lorek."_

As much as the Turian would love to believe in the Council Races' superiority, he knew that wasn't the case here. Time and again on over half a dozen engagements, the Covenant had shown their technological superiority over the Council Races' ships, wiping out fleets that normally outnumbered their own by margins of up to 4 to 1.

And if Qui'in remembered correctly, they had yet to kill a single Covenant warship. Something that made the Turian Admiral nervous.

_"Admiral, with all due respect, you and I both know that isn't true."_

_"Are you questioning the Hegemony's capabilities?"_

_"No. I'm saying that the Covenant have a massive advantage over us in space in terms of Armor and Firepower. It often takes 10 or 12 of our own Cruisers just to injure one of their smaller ships."_

While the Council Races had yet to kill a Covenant Warship, that didn't mean they hadn't broken through the shielding of one before. The Citadel Races had on numerous occasions damaged a Covenant Warship, but they were simply too heavily armored for even Dreadnoughts to do any critical or crippling damage, and the Covenant were quick to destroy any opposition before it turned into a serious threat.

_"Bah! The largest numbers we've seen were 25 ships in one Fleet. We would outnumber them considerably here. My line of thought is telling me that they don't have a large number of Warships, just very large and very strong ships. Very large ships that take a long time to build."_

For once, Admiral Qui'in was in agreeance with the Batarian. It made sense. A small but very powerful Navy that was capable of performing a multitude of roles. Perhaps if they could knock out one of those massive 6 km Warships, it might be a massive blow to their Military Capacity.

_"For once, we're in agreeance, but let's not overthink ourselves befo-"_

_"Admiral, we're picking up some massive readings on the scanners." _A Turian Officer shouted out.

Both Qui'in's and Balken's blood ran cold, fearing what it could be. On one hand, it could be either the 61st Patrol Fleet coming through the system, they were expected any day now, or even a Batarian Fleet that was sent to bolster their defense. Qui'in knew how much the Hegemony valued Lorek.

On the other hand...

* * *

As if to answer the question on everyone's mind, 40 white portals appeared a little under a quarter of a million kilometers from their positions. Qui'in and Balken knew immediately what they were, and what was coming through them.

The Covenant were here, and they were about to assault Lorek.

20 Battlcruisers, 10 Heavy Destroyers, 8 Heavy Cruisers, and 2 Assault Carriers exited Slipspace in almost perfect formation. This was the largest Covenant Fleet recorded so far by the Citadel Races. This was also the first time Admiral Qui'in and the 22nd had seen a Covenant Warship of any kind. They had a design that reminded him of some sea creatures that inhabit Palaven's oceans. But these beauties were dangerous and he knew it.

The Batarian Fleet was already setting up for the upcoming battle. It was time for the Turians to get into action, too.

_"All ships, staggered formation. Do NOT bunch up. Warm up main guns and prepare to fire."_

Admiral Qui'in turned to the Communications Officer, _"Okay, diplomacy first. Try to hail one of the Carriers, see if we can't at least get them talking."_

The Officer typed in a few commands into the console before looking back, _"We're transmitting on an open channel. Ready to go, Sir."_

The Admiral paused for a second, before clearing his throat and speaking.

* * *

_"Attention Covenant Fleet, this is Admiral Joran Qui'in, Commanding Officer of the 22nd Patrol Fleet of the Turian Hierarchy. We are here to assist the Batarian Hegemony that you are unprovokingly waging war with. We are asking, however, that instead of resorting to conflict, we can hopefully talk and negotiate a ceasefire between our governments. However, if you open fire, we will have no choice but to fire as well. Do you copy, over."_

Silence filled the air for what felt like forever, neither side speaking. Admiral Balken wasn't a diplomat, he was a soldier. He wanted to obliterate these fiends that dare attack the Hegemony, but he wasn't going to get in an arguement with the Turian just yet. He was honestly a little curious as to weather or not the Covenant would respond. They never did whenever a Batarian ship had tried to communicate.

Finally, a deep voice replied back.

_"Do not interfere, Turians. This isn't your fight. Get involved and you will be destroyed. Our war is with the four-eyed fiends, not you."_

_"And who am I speaking to?"_

_"It does not matter. Either leave the system or face destruction. The Batarians are doomed either way. Their arrogance will see to that."_

_"I can't do that, as I already told yo-"_

_"AND JUST WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK US WITHOUT PROVOCATION!"_

Annnd of course, the Batarian lost his temper. Damn him. Admiral Balken was obviously angered that the Covenant Commander was just blatantly ignoring him and already considering him dead before any shots had been fired. Admiral Qui'in was a little unnerved by this blatant disregard for another life.

The deep voice replied, _"What we are... is your Destruction. Your Judgment. Your Punishment for your arrogance. And as for your claims of unprovoked, that is entirely false. You open fire on us in our first encounter. Your Commander's stupidity brought this upon your people. Your people's undeserved claim of superiority above all others brought this upon you. You have angered and offended the Gods, and we as their instruments must silence you and cleanse your filth from any and all systems we come across."_

Qui'in wasn't surprised when the Covenant stated that the Batarians fired first. It sounded like something they would do. But that wasn't important at the moment.

_"Filth? FILTH?! I'll show you filth, you little shit!"_

The Batarian Admiral was thinking irrationally. This could get ugly quickly and Qui'in needed to act now. The lives of 4,500,000 people were depending on it.

_"Admiral Balken, calm down. We don't have to resort to violence. We could stop all the fighting, all the killing right now."_

_"It's no use, Turian. The Batarian has made up his mind."_

_"YOU'RE GODDAMNED RIGHT I'VE MADE UP MY MIND! You. Are. Dead!"_

_"Admiral, please. The lives of 4,500,000 people are depending on us. If we can end this without resorting to violence, then we should."_

_"To hell with that! I want to see this bastard's Fleet in pieces. I hope you made peace with your 'gods', because you're about to go meet them."_

The Batarian Admiral cut the connection. Admiral Qui'in spoke into the comms, _"Admiral Balken. Admiral! Spirits dammit."_

He was about to speak to his own Fleet, when the Covenant Leader spoke again.

_"Turian, the battle is at hand. If you wish to avoid the deaths of your soldiers, then do not interfere."_

_"Is there any way of convincing you to consider diplomacy over war?"_

_"We are not at war, therefore there is no need for diplomacy with a race we're not at war with."_

_"That's where your wrong. By declaring war with the Batarians, you've effectively declared war on the rest of the Citadel Races. That's the whole reason we're here at Lorek. If you engage in combat with the Hegemony, then I will have no choice but join them in combat."_

_"Then I hope your warriors will perform better than the Batarians have. Have bravery, Turian, and prepare for a most glorious and honorable battle."_

* * *

The line went dead after that statement. Admiral Qui'in sighed. While they did outnumber the Covenant by some 60 ships, he would of rather they outnumber them by twice that number. He knew this fight was going to be bloody and horrific. But, still, as a Turian, he was expected to carry out his duty. He spoke up once more.

_"Attention, 22nd Patrol Fleet. This is Admiral Qui'in. The Covenant are about to commence their attack on Lorek. While most of us have no love for the Hegemony, we can't allow 4,500,000 million people to perish at the hands of the Covenant. We wouldn't allow it if this was a Turian world. As Turians, you will perform your duty and engage the enemy. I know each and every one of you will give the Covenant every bit of hell possible, so let us go out there and show these newcomers who's the strongest military in the galaxy. Let us show them a fury that they will never forget! Turians, prepare for combat!"_

The speech did rouse up the Fleet's morale, evident in his own crews faces. Qui'in turned to navigations, _"What are the Batarians doing?"_

_"Sir, the 3rd Heavy Fleet is dividing up into 3 major battlegroups. Two battlegroups of Frigates with 6 Cruisers in each, the final battlegroup is made up of 30 Cruisers and the 3 Dreadnoughts. They're in a loose staggered formation, with considerable spacing between each of the ships and battlegroups."_

Good, at least they weren't making themselves bigger targets. Even if he despised the man, Qui'in had to admit that Admiral Balken was one of the few Batarian Admirals who was actually a decent leader. He was also one of the few Batarians that had rose to the rank of Admiral through military service and not political ties.

But one decent commander didn't mean that they were going to win.

_"Sir, the Covenant's on the move. They're splitting as well. Two battlegroups. 10 Battlecruisers, 5 Destroyers, 4 Heavy Cruisers, and 1 Carrier each. Looks like they know what Balken's doing."_

_"Then we better get in there and back him up. 22nd Fleet, move out and prepare to fire main cannons when the Covenant's in range."_

The Turian and Batarian Fleets positioned themselves as they prepared for the Covenant onslaught. Fighters are launched, ready to take on any fighters the Covenant unleash.

_"Sit, all units are ready to go, we're- Sir, energy spikes coming from the Covenant ships. Their firing their Plasma Torpedoes. Count's at nearly 60. Fighters are numbering 500 and rising."_

_"Torpedoes from 120,000 km?! Ridiculous, they'll never hit anything from that range."_

The Covenant Plasma Torpedoes streamed towards their targets through space. The Batarian Frigates held firm while the Cruisers and Dreadnoughts did immediate evasive maneuvers. Qui'in noticed that about a half dozen of the Torpedoes were coming towards his Fleet. _"Frigates shoot them down, Cruisers and Indomitable, target the closest Covenant ship and prepare to fire."_

* * *

The Frigates moved out ahead of the Cruisers and Dreadnought and attempted to shoot down the incoming Torpedoes. GUARDIAN lasers came to life and struck the Torpedoes, but did nothing to stop or slow down the incoming projectiles. The Torpedoes closed in and slammed into 6 Frigates, setting each of them alight and ablaze. The Frigates' kinetic barriers didn't even stop the projectiles for a second.

Admiral Qui'in could only watch as the Frigates were destroyed. The damn things were guided. By the Spirits, how the hell could they guide Plasma? And the Batarians didn't fair any better. Their Frigates took the brunt of the Torpedoes, crippling and destroying the majority of them. The Cruisers and Dreadnoughts faired better, as the Cruisers had only lost 3 and the Dreadnoughts didn't lose any. The Frigates, however, were utterly destroyed. Only 8 Frigates were left at the end of the barrage.

And now the Batarians returned in kind.

The Batarian Cruisers and Dreadnoughts open fire with their Mass Accelerators, 42 slugs screaming towards the closest Covenant battlegroup. Followed by 2 more volleys in less than 5 seconds. 10 Covenant ships were struck by the barrage repeatedly. At first, Admiral Qui'in didn't understand what the Batarian Admiral was doing, but quickly put the pieces together. Balken was targeting certain ships and giving to individual wolf packs to target and overwhelm them with firepower in hopes of breaking the shields before they get too close to the 3rd Fleet.

It was a good plan. They had a better chance of taking down the massive warships if they concentrated their fire. _"22nd, target the closest Covenant ship."_

The 22nd Patrol Fleet turned their bows towards the closest Covenant ship, a Heavy Destroyer. The Admiral looked at the profile of the Destroyer, taking in its predatory design. Now, he was going to find out just how powerful this predator is.

_"All ships, open fire."_

14 slugs came screaming out towards the Destroyer. A few seconds later, the rounds slammed into the shields of the Covenant ship, silver screens flaring up around the ship as the shields took damage. The shields held, however. And now the Turians had the Covenant's attention.

_"Sir, 4 Covenant Ships are breaking off from the battlegroup. 3 Battlecruisers and 1 Destroyer, approaching on an intercept course."_

_"Target them, assign one ship each to 3 Cruisers and one Frigate, have our ship target the Destroyer. All ships, fire at will."_

The 22nd Patrol Fleet's ships shifted their positions and open fire on the incoming ships. The Covenant ships' shields flared as they were struck by the rounds, but they continued to close in on the Turian Fleet. The Covenant returned fire by having the Battlecruisers firing their Plasma Turrets and Pulse Lasers and the Destroyer... wait what was the Destroyer doing?

The Destroyer arched upward, revealing its underside to the fleet. The cruisers fired upon it and actually broke the shields of the Destroyer, but the bottom of the Destroyer's bow was glowing. The front of the bow of the Battlecruisers were now glowing as well. What the hell were th-

Four silver lances came out of the Covenant ships and struck four Turian ships. The Turians had come face to face with the infamous Covenant Energy Projector.

The first unfortunate ship was a Frigate. It was struck in the bow and speared by the energy weapon, gutting the inside of the ship and setting it alight. A cruiser was bisected and split in half. Another Cruiser was struck in the engines and went alight before exploding. The last Cruiser struck was struck near the bridge and simply floated off, dead in the water.

* * *

**_Turian Dreadnought 'Indomitable'-Bridge_**

_"By the Spirits, what the hell was that?!" _Admiral Qui'in shouted, losing his nerve that had been on a never-ending edge. Realizing what he had done, though, he quickly regained his composure and spoke out, _"Keep firing. Have the Fleet split up and engage at will." _

The 'Indomitable' fired away with its two Mass Accelerators and its broadside mass drivers at the Covenant Destroyer, the rounds doing nothing more than denting the Armor of the massive ship. Its Armor was just simply too thick to be pierce by the mass accelerated rounds.

Four more Turian Cruisers were destroyed by the Covenant Battlecruisers, but their armor apparently wasn't as thick as the Destroyer, as there was visible damage on the hull of the warships. Weather the interior had received damage, Qui'in didn't know. It didn't change the fact that the Turian Fleet was losing ships at an alarming rate. And right now, he had a Destroyer bearing down on him, its super weapon glowing fiercely again. At such a close range, they would never dodge it. Not with a Dreadnought.

Qui'in did the only thing he could think of.

_"Weapons, target that energy weapon their charging up. If we're going down, we're going to try and at least take that bastard with us."_

The 'Indomitable' turned and aligned its Mass Accelerators with the Destroyer's Energy Projector. The Covenant Warship continued to charge up its weapon, almost ready to fire. Just as it seemed like it was about to fire, Admiral Qui'in gave the order.

_"Fire!"_

* * *

Two Mass Accelerator rounds thundered out towards the Destroyer and struck the Energy Projector. The result wasn't what the Turian Admiral was expecting.

The moment the slugs slammed into the Energy Projector, the ball of energy ignited and explosion tore through the bow of the Destroyer. The interior was set alight as multiple explosions rocked the inside of the ship. Miniature explosions dotted the hull. The Destroyer turned onto its side and floated past the 'Indomitable'.

The Destroyer was out of action.

* * *

The Turians cheered as they watched the Destroyer burn and float aimlessly past them. Admiral Qui'in sighed a breath of relief. The Turians had just proven something of great importance. They had proven that the Covenant wasn't as invincible as some believed. That Covenant Warships could be taken down. Granted, it wasn't destroyed, but the Covenant Destroyer was effectively out of the fight.

_"Alright, settle down. Back to your stations. We've still got-"_

The Dreadnought shuttered and shook violently, before the power went out. _"Sir, we've been hit! Plasma Torpedo to the stern, knocked out our engines."_

_"Spirits, how bad is it?"_

_"The armor more or less saved the engines from igniting, but it didn't stop the Plasma Torpedo from taking our engines off line." _

_"Sir, we have only three Cruisers left reporting in, and they're all reporting that they're being boarded."_

Spirits Dammit. That wasn't good. And if the message wasn't convincing enough, Admiral Qui'in saw a Covenant Battlecruiser go past the front of the Dreadnought through the Bridge's viewport. He could see several fighters being launched from the Warships, as well as what he assumed were boarding craft.

_"All Turians, to arms. We're about to be boarded."_

He pulled the heavy pistol from his waist and made sure it was ready for use. Several sudden collisions rocked and shook the ship violently. The sounds of battle followed a few moments after outside the bulkhead. Screams and shouts were heard along with the gunfire as Turians clashed with the Covenant intruders. The Admiral called out, _"Seal that bulkhead, they'll try and gain access to the Bridge as soon as they can."_

The bulkhead was seal and locked. It would keep the Covenant from accessing the Bridge, but it also condemned any Turian soldiers trying to reach their location. On the Omni-tool's comms, the crew could here the sounds of fighting coming from the other ships being boarded. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to know how the Batarians were fairing.

The bulkhead suddenly had a bright burning mark in the center. Spirits, they were cutting through the bulkhead. Persistent Bastards.

_"Steady, men. No matter what comes through that door, you face it head on as Turians."_

A chorus of "Yes, sir." rang out on the Bridge. Turian society required the males to serve when they turn 15, which means that every Turian males have some level of combat capability, especially if they chose to be career soldiers. And one thing above all other made the Turian Military the best in the Galaxy.

Turians don't retreat. And none of them were going to here.

* * *

The bulkhead exploded, sending bits of the door all across the room. Plasma bolts soon followed afterwards, killing a couple Turians. Sangheili soldiers stormed through within seconds of the bulkhead being breached, firing away at the entrenched Turians. The Turians returned fire with various Mass Effect-powered weapons, only for the projectiles to be stopped by the personal Energy Shields of the Sangheili.

Unggoy and Kig-yar came in behind the Sangheili. They were easier to take down than the Sangheili as they had no shields. Qui'in dropped two Unggoy in rapid succession from his heavy pistol, before turning it onto a Kig-yar. The Kig-yar's shield gauntlet took the brunt of the bullet barrage, but held out nonetheless.

_"Get some grenades out!" _Admiral Qui'in shouted, and a couple Turian Marines chucked out a couple grenades at the Covenant soldiers. Twin explosions rocked the Bridge, killing several Covenant soldiers. The Covenant returned in kind and killed several more Turian in a hail of Plasma bolts.

But the Turians were losing, slowly but surely. The Covenant could replace their soldiers, the Bridge crew could not. They were now down to just 6 soldiers. An explosion rocked the Turians' position, sending Admiral Qui'in crashing to the ground. His whole body ached and burned. He couldn't feel his left leg move, but he knew it was still there when he reached down and touched it. He lifts his head up to see one of his Turian soldiers going down in a hail of gunfire, before a large foot blocks his view.

He looks up to see a large Sangheili warrior, donned in bright white armor, looming above him, mandibles flaring. He wielded a Plasma Sword in his hand and was about to lunge down and finish him off. This was the end. This was how he was going to die.

_"Stop!"_

The Sangheili Ultra stopped in his tracks, the sword just inches from piercing Admiral Qui'in's back. They both looked and saw a Sangheili Zealot, donned in maroon armor, stepped up and spoke, _"The Shipmaster has decreed that these Turians be taken prisoner, along with any others captured."_

The Ultra grunted, and grabbed the Admiral by the back of the neck, dragging him along. It was at this moment that Qui'in realized that there were 3 other survivors of the bridge crew, minus himself, out of an original crew of 24. He didn't want to think how many others survived.

It didn't matter at this point. For Admiral Qui'in, this fight was over.

* * *

The Batarian had lost this fight. The Covenant had overrun their Fleet and there were simply too few of their ships left to keep resisting. While the 3rd Heavy Fleet had knocked 4 Covenant ships out of the fight, and damaged some 10 others to various degrees, it didn't change the fact that Balken was down to 5 Cruisers and 1 Dreadnought. And he had just learned of the Turian Fleet's demise.

Admiral Balken knew the battle was over, and he had lost. Now, he needed to get what was left of his Fleet out of there now.

* * *

**_Batarian Dreadnought 'Unwavering Loyalty'-Bridge_**

_"All ships, commence emergency jump towards the Relay. I repeat. All ships, disengage and retreat." _The surviving Batarian ships disengaged and moved to escape the coming wrath of the Covenant Warships. What the hell were those silver lances of energy? They tore his ships apart like they were damn paper. He had no choice but to retreat to save what was left of his Fleet.

_Retreat._ A word not familiar to the Batarian people. He hated the fact that he was leaving 5 million people behind on Lorek, but these ships would be needed in the future. And the ships would be of no use fighting an already lost battle. The colony had only one hope now, and that was the 550,000 Batarian Soldiers left to defend the cities. Their only chance was to hold out until the Council Races could muster up an Invasion Fleet and counterattack.

He knew, however, that the chances of that happening were slim.

Damn the Council! He already knew from the start what they were doing when he learned of how much support they were sending. They were hoping this would weaken the Hegemony enough that an overthrowing of the Government would happen, and Slavery would finally be ended in Batarian space.

In truth, he had no love for the Slavery laws. Balken's own nephew, who he thought of as a son, was a slave for a political family he was associated with. The only reason he wasn't treated badly or was even seen by his family was because of Balken's close ties to the family. But, they had been a part of Batarian heritage for as long as Batarian Civilization had existed. But now, it may very well lead to the Batarian people's extinction.

Something Admiral Balken couldn't allow.

He should have used diplomacy instead of letting his anger get the better of him. Now, 5 million people may have been condemned to death by his actions. He knew from experience that when the Covenant waged a ground war, they were full tenacity and no mercy. Their ground forces had more advance tech than even the Turians.

But this... This would be the start of something. The Hegemony needed to change. Needed to adapt if it was going to survive. New Policies would to be installed, and old ones repealed. If the Batarian race was going to survive, a massive change in the very society needed to happen. And by the Pillars of Strength, he would see this vision become a reality. But first, they needed to accomplished something important first.

Peace with the Covenant.

* * *

In the decades after what would become known as the Fall of Lorek, the battle would be remembered as one of the largest and most colossal naval defeats in centuries, and one of the bloodiest battles in history since the Krogan Rebellion. It would be remembered as the moment the Batarians lost their power and hold over the Terminus Systems, and when the Hegemony was effectively brought to its knees. In another Galaxy, it might have been compared to another colossal battle waged with the Covenant. A planet that would be remembered for its valiant stand against the vast Covenant Fleet sent against it before falling to the hordes of Covenant Soldiers and Orbital Glassings.

A planet called Reach.

* * *

_**06.05.2105  
Vallhallan Threshold  
**__**Raheel-Leyya System  
**__**Migrant Fleet  
**__**Quarian Liveship 'Rayya'**_

_"... And so, here we are today." _Hurok Wattinree finished his tale of the Covenant and their journey. Admiral Delun'Rallen and the rest of the Admiralty Board stood in silence, taking in all the information that had been presented to them by the Covenant. Both of their entire histories had been told to one another over the past 4 hours, with an occasional break of course, but none the less. Every bit of it was incredible.

But now, if what the Fleetmaster said was true, apparently this Fleet of 140 ships were lost and apparently unable to contact the rest of their people. Why? Duren had no idea, but, he knew an opportunity when he saw one. He had already had a theory in his mind as to why the Covenant were here, and now, he was going to find out for certain.

_"An incredible history you have, Fleetmaster. But, I must ask the question that I know is in everyone's mind here. Why are you contacting us instead of the Council Races?"_

_"It's very simple, Admiral. We need you, just as much as you need us."_

The Admiral was taken aback by this, _"I'm sorry?"_

_"We need skilled Engineers to maintain and replace our mighty warships and weaponry, and you need firepower and numbers if you eve hope to drive the Geth from your Home. What I am here to offer... is an agreement that will benefit us both greatly."_

Keelah, he had a point. They didn't have a planet to fall back to. If the Quarians lose one ship, it's a lost for the entire race. The Quarians had maybe another century before they were wiped out if they were lucky. They needed to build up their numbers. _"... What... exactly do you have in mind?"_

_"It is very simple. We join forces and focus on rebuilding our people. We need to get our populations back up if we wish to stand a chance against our neighbors."_

Murmurs filled the room as to what the Sangheili was suggesting. It wasn't suggesting they join forces, but that the Quarians join the Covenant's little religious cult, at least, that's what Duren saw it as.

But at the same time, was it really such a bad idea? The benefits outweighed the consequences no matter how he looked at it. The Quarians would gain access to advance technology, centuries ahead of anything the Council had, and they would have a chance to rebuild and grow their people's numbers before attempting to retake Rannoch. He looked over at the other Admirals, who nodded, each knowing what the other was thinking.

Duren spoke once more, _"What would be the terms of this... Alliance?"_

_"Our union would mean we benefit on another. You're regarded as some of the best Engineers in the Galaxy, and we are the fiercest warriors. No-one would dare strike or oppose us for our might would be without equal."_

The idea of a union with the Covenant was starting to look better and better in the eyes of the Quarians around them. The Admirals knew that Covenant were more than likely relinquish the Board's rule over the Quarian people, but... perhaps it was better this way. Better than dying a slow death, anyway.

_"Before we make our decision, we must put this to a vote with the people. See where their hearts lie in the matter."_

_"Very well, but we should make haste. The longer we wait, the sooner our enemies may try and strike in our weakness."_

Keelah, today was going to be a long day.

* * *

_**6 hours later...**_

The votes had all been casted, and the results were in. Out of 50,460 votes, 45,805 were for joining the Covenant, 4,655 were against. The decision was made. The Quarians would join forces with the Covenant. The Admiral's returned to the room with to the Covenant Fleetmaster and his soldiers.

_"Our people have voted, Fleetmaster Wattinree. We will join you and the Covenant."_

_"Excellent. I have already ordered our Agricultural ships to begin colonizing the planet several days ago." _

_"What planet are you colonizing?"_

Hurok pulled out a hand held projector, and showed the Admirals a hologram of a lush, green planet, with vast oceans. It was a beautiful planet, and it looks like an almost perfect garden world.

_"We do not have a name for it, but-"_

_"That's Virmire!"_

Hurok looked up, surprised. _"You know of this planet?"_

_"It was discovered about 20 years ago by a Council exploration team, but no attempts to colonize have been made because of the local instability of the Terminus Systems. We've even considered colonizing it a few times, but our... unique biology kept us from doing so, and it would simply take us too long to colonize the planet without assistance or maintaining a large Fleet to defend ourselves with."_

_"I see..." _Hurok was deep in thought, contemplating something, before he spoke up, _"How many ships do you have that could land on the planet's surface?"_

This request caught them off guard. _"Um... I'm honestly not sure. Tens of thousands, several thousand at least. Why?"_

_"They will more than likely be required to act as a temporary residence for your people, because of your weak immune systems. If we can cluster them together or even merge them together, we could create temporary residences on the planet until we build more permanent settlements." _

ConvertingFrigates and Civilian ships into houses? It wasn't crazy. The Quarians have been collectively living in ships for over two centuries. They could afford to live in them for a few more years. But colonizing Virmire. Sure, the Covenant had powerful ships, but did they have the combined numbers to defend Virmire from a determined attack? Duren wasn't sure, but he knew that if they continued living the way they were, then there wouldn't be a Quarian race to consider that question within another Century.

_"It's acceptable for now. But what about the local warlords and pirate bands that may try and threaten us?"_

_"They can try and they will be destroyed. For now, we will limit our territory in order to focus on rebuilding and growing our populations before expanding outward."_

The Admirals seemed a little unsure, but seemed willing to go along with the plan for the most part. They could have the Migrant Fleet at Vimire within about a month, due to how many ships were travelling there. But, their people may just have a future now.

_"Admiral Duren, I would like for you and an escort of your soldiers to come with us to the Citadel."_

"_T-the Citadel? Why?"_

_"I am going to negotiate a peace treaty, or a ceasefire at the least, with the Citadel Council. We've crippled their forces enough to where they won't bother us with our activities in the Terminus Systems. However, we need to show them that we have allies and we are not going to simply bow to them. While they did not exactly lose, they did not win this war either. Therefore we would have no reason to just bow down and give in to their rule. Neither should your race either, considering their abandonment of your race in a time of need."_

Duren wasn't sure if this was nessecarily a good idea. In his mind, all this would seem to do was antagonize the Council. He noticed Hurok was heading back with his group down the hallway, towards his dropship.

_"Order your Fleet to head towards Virmire. My ships will escort you there. Come, Admiral, and bring your escort with you. We have a peace treaty to achieve and an empire to rebuild."_

No race had ever defied the Citadel Council, but Admiral Duren'Rallen supposed there was a first for everything. And maybe, just maybe, the Quarian people had a future now. He just hoped he didn't come to regret this in the future.

* * *

**_06.08.2105 - 02:15 p.m Local Time  
Sirius System  
Terra Nova  
Yukima City_**

The end was finally in sight. The Alliance had pushed the Rebel forces all the way back to the Colonial Capital. The fighting had been fierce and unforgiving, but the Alliance had the Rebellion in it's death throws. Support for the Rebellion had been completely lost when they resorted to using terror tactics on any Alliance sympathizers on Terra Nova, which was aired by just about every Alliance News Agency to every other colony.

The once magnificent city had turned into a burning ruin of its former glory. Building collapsed, and/or on fire. Bodies littered the streets. The normally crystal clear river that ran through the center of the city was now clouded and dirtied by the debris of collapsed buildings and one of the three bridges that had been destroyed.

But none of this matter right now. Lance Corporal Fredrick Williams just wanted this fight to end so he could go home to his girlfriend. He swore a long time ago that if he survived this, he would propose to her the moment he saw here.

Williams had been promoted just a week ago when Sgt Dias was killed by an IED on the road to Yukima City. His death had hit the group hard. Sure they lost Marines before Dias, but he had always done everything to keep them alive. His death had a profound impact on the Marines of Able Company. The 294th and the rest of the 31st Marines had been heavily involved in the Terra Nova Campaign, and had taken considerable casualties during the Alliance's march to Yukima City.

And now they were fighting in the Capital, fighting the last remnants of the 'Republic' trying to hold onto the Capital. Hopefully, the conflict's end was near.

* * *

The street that Able Company was occupying was littered with debris and the scars of battle. Buildings had bullet and explosion holes riddling their structures. Some were burning and smoking slightly. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance. Any civilians that had lived here were either gone or dead. The only living souls left in this street were the Marines of Able Company. The Rebels had been pushed back towards the Colonial Governor's Office, roughly two blocks away, where the Rebels were going to make their last stand.

"Listen up, Marines!"

Williams turned to see Staff Sergeant James Hudson and his ODST squad walking up to the group, fully geared and combat ready. They always seemed like they were ready for a fight.

"We've been given the green light. All nearby units are to launch the assault on the Government District. We're moving out in 5 minutes."

The Marines picked themselves up and prepped their weapons, getting ready for what was more than likely to be the last major battle of this conflict. The speakers, the ones that still worked anyway, had been blaring none stop for the Rebels to surrender. Very few had surrender, but more than enough to help reveal key locations and strongholds that the Rebels had set up.

And now, the Marines were going to finish this fight once and for all. It was time to end the Battle of Terra Nova.

* * *

_**02:20 p.m.**_

Artillery thundered in the distance, as military aircraft flew sorties overhead. In the streets, gunfire raged all throughout the Government District. Able Company and the ODST 7th Squad moved up along with a squad of M3A3 'Custer' MBTs, advancing up the streets slowly should there be any IEDs. And there typically was one or two.

The M3A3 'Custer' Main Battle Tank, is the last of a line of American-made tanks in service for the Alliance as a standard issue MBT. Entering service in 2082, the Custer is just one of three MBT designs that the Alliance uses at the moment, due to different national militarizes of the past having different design concepts. Equipped with a 140mm L55 Smoothbore Gun, 1 coaxial and 1 pintle-mounted 7.62 MMG, and one .50 cal HMG, the 'Custer' was designed to be able to engaged any and all adversaries and still come out on top. Armor thickness is 7 inches on the front and side-skirts, capable of withstand all but the absolute worst of anti-tank weapons. The 'Custer' is a formidable tank, but also an aging design, needing to be replaced along with the other tanks in service, The EU's 'Panther 2A4' and the Chinese 'Type-150A2'.

The 4-tank squad of 'Custers' advance in two columns of two up the large street that lead to the Government District. Their turrets and top mounted MGs scanned the buildings and rooftops for possible ambushers with RPGs. Able Company and 7th Squad moved up behind the tanks, using them as mobile cover in case an ambush did happen. They pushed up to an intersection, with one of the two intact bridges just ahead, along with Rebel territory.

"Anyone else getting a bad vibe from this street?" A marine suddenly spoke.

"Yeah. Williams, what do you think?"

Williams looked back at the two soldiers, "Lock it up. Doesn't matter. We'll see the Rebels soon enough, so keep your eyes trained for anything."

He turned back to the tanks just in time to see a massive explosion rock the lead Custer on the left as it was rounding a corner. The other tanks came to a halt and scanned around to see if there was an origin from where the shot came from or if it was an IED. Most of the Marines and ODST hit the dirt as they scanned for hostiles.

"Jesus fuck! What was that?!"

"Fucking IED. How's the crew? They okay?" Williams was more concerned about the crew inside than identifying what was probably an IED. The Custers were tough, but they weren't invincible.

_'Yea their saying fine, for the most part. Just shook up and pissed off. Tank tracks got taken out, though, over.' _One of the Tank Commanders spoke over the radio.

Williams sighed, "Sgt, your guys good?"

A few seconds passed before a reply came from the other side of the street, "Fuck no! Damn near shit myself. Motherfucking Assholes!" a middle finger was raised.

Okay, he was fine. Williams and the rest of Able Company had come to learn and understand 'Hudson Talk' as they had come to term it.

"Okay, everyone head towards the other side of the intersect and push towards the bridge. Get to that low-wall and hold that ground until Fox and Gamma Companies-"

Gunfire erupted from the other side of the river, bullets kicking up dirt and debris as they danced around the Alliance Marines.

* * *

"Move! Fucking Move!" Hudson shouted as the Marines beelined for the low-wall, most not even bothering to return fire as it would do no good anyway if they weren't aiming properly. Williams and Hudson both slid into the wall as they took cover behind it. The Marines were safe behind it fore the most part, as it was thick concrete designed to withstand heavy cargo transport slamming into them without breaking.

Now the Marines returned fire.

The combined fire of 120 Marines, plus 12 ODST, roared to life on the Alliance side of the bridge, sending hundreds of rounds of lead down towards the entrenched Rebels. The three working Custer tanks moved in behind the Marines and set up positions, before firing their own weapons at the Rebels. Three 140mm Guns thundered as the HE rounds soared across the river, create three massive explosions on buildings on the other side.

Williams fired away with his M392, sending 7.62mm rounds downrange. A few Marines dropped and were killed by an occasional lucky shot, but the Rebels' fire was mostly sporadic and inaccurate at best. Williams ducked down and spoke into his headset.

"294-Actual, this is Able Company! We're at Hurst Bridge. Enemy had control of the other side and is heavily dug in. 1 Tank knocked out, 7 KIA. Requesting air support,over."

_'Roger, Able. Three Pelicans are being diverted to your location, ETA 2 minutes. Fox and Gamma Companies are inbound as well, ETA 3 minutes, over.'_

"Copy that. Able Company, out!"

He popped back up and aimed at a three story house on the left side of the bridge, looking through the DMR's scope. He could see a couple Rebels working a heavy machine gun, firing down on the Marines' positions. He steadied his breath, lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger. The round flew straight and true, connecting center-mass with the Rebel mounting the machine gun.

The Rebel dropped dead, her companion panicked and fled the gun. MG neutralized.

"MG neutralized. Someone get some Target Designators aimed at those buildings so the Pelicans know where to shoot." Williams shouted, ducking back in cover as bullets chipped away at the concrete low-wall. The tanks fired again, three 140mm HE rounds sailing across and impacting against entrenched Rebel forces, creating a trio of explosions. Machine Guns fired away and pelted the enemy with numerous 7.62 and .50 cal bullets, killing several in the process.

Overhead, Williams heard the roar of three Pelican Dropships coming in to provide that air support. Three M370 Autocannons roared to life as multiple explosions rocked the far side of the river, pelting the Rebels and decimating their defenses.

_'Able Company, this is Overlord-3 lead. We'll be your air support for today, over.'_

"Roger that. Thanks for the assist. We'll call out targets for you, over."

_'Affirmative, Able. We'll be on standby, out.'_

The Rebels began to retreat when the Dropships arrived. At this point, both Fox and Gamma Company had arrived and were bolstering the Marines' strength on the bridge, laying down a continuous wall of suppressive fire on the Rebels. The Pelicans continue to barrage the Rebel positions with autocannon fire, until there were no more targets visible. The buildings and roads were smoldering ruins of themselves.

But Hurst Bridge belong to the Alliance.

* * *

Lance Corporal Williams surveyed the destruction on the other side of Hurst Bridge, multiple buildings were collapsed or burning. Corpses littered the buildings and streets, some of which were not even recognizable. The stench of death was thick in the air, birds screeched or cawed as they flew overhead, waiting to scavenge on the abundant food source.

"Don't think about it. It's the only advice I can give ya."

He turned to see SSgt. Hudson walking up to him. He glanced at the carnage before looking back at the young Lance Corporal.

"Hard not too. Seeing all this pointless death and destruction, all this suffering." His eyes narrowed, thinking about everyone whose died in this conflict.

"It never gets easier, I'll tell you that. Best thing you can do is try and block it out as best you can." Hudson put a hand on the young Marine's shoulder, patting it before motioning 7th Squad to move up.

Williams thought for a moment, before nodding. He couldn't change who died, but he could help keep others alive.

"Williams, it's incredible! You won't believe this." A Marine came running up shouting at him.

"What?"

"The Rebels are surrendering all across Yukima City. It's over!"

Williams eyes widened at this, while everyone else started cheering. They were surrendering? Didn't seem like something they do. It didn't matter to him. It was over. It was finally over. The Battle of Terra Nova had finally been won. Sure, there may be a few diehard holdouts for a couple weeks, but combat as a whole on the planet was effectively over.

For the first time in weeks, he sat down, leaned his head back on the low-wall, and smiled as he closed his eyes. He made it. He had survived, and now he had a wedding ring to go buy.

And now the long process of Occupation and Restoration of Terra Nova would commence.

* * *

_**06.20.2105 - 12:40 Standard Galactic Time  
Serpent Nebula  
Widow System  
Citadel - Council Private Chambers**_

_"This isn't the type of news I like to hear, Councilors." _Tevos spoke as she poured herself a drink to ease her headache. She and the Councilors had learned of the Fall of Lorek the day after from the Batarian Ambassador, something which shocked the Councilors. Lorek was, in all but name, a Batarian Fortress and one of their most important Colonies in the Terminus Systems, if not the most. Supposedly, after the disasterous naval battle, the ground forces held out for 10 days before the Colony was lost.

And since the Naval Forces' defeat at Lorek, 6 more Batarian Colonies have fallen to the Covenant's Rampage, making the total number of Colonies lost to the Covenant at 21. The Hegemony had barely 14 Colonies left now, and not enough ships to defend them all.

_"Councilor Tevos, I'll be the first to admit that we may have underestimated the Covenant-"_

_"Underestimated?!"_

_"-But, we can't simply just scream for peace and hope they'll listen. The 22nd Patrol Fleet tried that, Spirits rest their souls, and look what happened. We need to mobilize our fleets and send them in, that's the only way we're going to end this fight and win." _Councilor Hyleen finished, maintaining his calm demeanor. In truth, he was livid and raging on the inside. Two Patrol Fleets, that had even been reinforced, had been utterly annihilated by the Covenant. He wanted payback.

_"Councilor Hyleen, if you do that, then the entire Terminus System will raise arms against us. Something we can't afford at the moment. We can't fight a two front war of such scale. Especially if it takes us 5 or 6 Cruisers just to take down one of the Covenant ships." _Councilor Kilish piped in, knowing full well that the Turian was wanting vengeance for the two Turian Fleets destroyed by the Covenant.

_"The time has come, we need to negotiate a peace treaty with the Covenant. This conflict could spill over to our territory before too long, something I'm not willing to take a chance on." _Kilish had brought up another good point. The Covenant knew that the Council was in this war as well, so how long would it be before the Covenant decided to push into Citadel Space?

A sudden message on all three of their Omni-tools, marked urgent, drew their attention. The Councilors tapped onto their Omni-tools, to hear a young Asari's voice speak out, _"Councilors, forgive the intrusion. I know you stated that you were not to be disturbed, but our long range sensors are picking up several massive energy readings. They're beyond anything we've ever seen before."_

Hyleen tapped a few commands in on his Omni-tool and the chat was transferred over to the large television screen on the wall. The image of a purple colored Asari appeared on screen, in one of the Citadel's many long range scanner rooms. _"What's going on?" _Hyleen spoke.

_"Not even 2 minutes ago, we picked up several strange readings on the long range scanner, not matching any know signatures in our databases. The number is current at 12 unique signatures, and their energy outputs are rising. We have the Citadel Defense Fleet on standby. We've... Hold on."_

The screen suddenly changed to a view of space, towards the mass relay. The Citadel Defense Fleet, made up of some 80 Cruisers and Dreadnoughts, moved into position waiting for whatever was about to come through. The comms came alive with chatter from the various ships and scanner rooms.

_'Anyone else seeing those tiny white dots?'_

_'Affirmative, we see them. They have to be no more than 20,000 km out. What are they?'_

_'Unknown, but each one's putting out more energy than the entire Defense Fleet. Be on gua-'_

The 12 white dot expanded into massive portals, into what looked like oblivion. All three of the Councilors horridly realized what these portals were, they had seen enough reports to know what they were.

12 Covenant warships exited slipspace just 20,000 km from the Capital of the Galactic Government. The Covenant were at the Citadel.

1 Assualt Carrier, 2 Battleships, 3 Heavy Cruisers, and 6 Battlecruisers exited slipspace in near perfect formation. The Councilors collectively dropped their mouths in pure awe at the size of the massive warships. _"Goddess..." _was all Councilor Tevos could mutter out.

Hyleen was silent, wondering what the Covenant was going to do next. Had they intentionally come here, or did they stumble upon the Citadel by accident?

Kilish knew that if this turned into a fight, the Citadel Defense Fleet would lose several ships. Sure, they may defeat this Covenant Fleet, but he pictured the Defense Fleet would lose at least half of their ships before that. He hoped it wouldn't come to that, or 13 million inhabitants would be in peril.

_'All ships, Covenant presence confirmed! Prepare to fire on my ma-'_

_'Wait! Councilors, we're being hailed by the Covenant warships.'_

The Councilors looked at one another, unsure of what the Covenant wanted. They weren't exactly known for their communication skills.

Finally, Tevos spoke up, _"Patch them through."_

* * *

A few seconds passed on the screen, before it changed to the image of a large and imposing Sangheili warrior, clanned in dark golden armor with red steaks on the arms and legs of the armor, as well as the center of its helmet. His entire body language spoke power and dominance.

This must be the infamous Commander of the Covenant Fleets. The notorious Hurok Wattinree.

The Sangheili seemed to be observing the Councilors, studying their appearance. Then, after a few more seconds of this silence, the Sangheili spoke.

_'Is this the Citadel Council I am speaking to?' _The Sangheili's voice was deep and almost a growl.

_"It is." _Hyleen was the first to speak up.

The Sangheili stood a little straighter, flaring its nostrils.

_'I am Hurok Wattinree, Supreme Commander of the Covenant Fleet of Divine Fury.'_

'Divine Fury, huh? Fitting name.' was pretty much the thought of all three Councilors. Tevos spoke next, _"And why are you here, Commander."_

_'I am here to negotiate a peace treaty between the Covenant and the Citadel Races, as was proposed by your Turian Admiral.'_

This shocked the Councilors. They were here for peace? 'Thank the Goddess.' Tevos thought. Hyleen was somewhat relieved, too, but a still a little irritated by the fact that he wouldn't get to put the Covenant in their place for destroying two Turian Fleets. Kilish, was still a little disappointed that they weren't able to get their hands on any Covenant Tech, but they might be able to achieve through trade what they couldn't do through war.

_"Very well, Commander. We'll prepped a docking bay for one of your transports to land." _

_'Understood, I will depart for the transport, now.'_

The line was disconnected, and the screen went black. Tevos breathed a signed a relief. _"Well, I guess we better get ready for this Peace Conference."_

_"Yes, Kilish, we should. Should we bring along the Batarian Ambassador?" _Hyleen asked.

_"Yes. They'll more than likely want a say in the negotiation, but in all honesty, they're not in any position to demand anything from them. But, at the very least, we will restore peace to the Terminus Systems." _Tevos responded, hoping that is exactly what will happen here today. Peace would be negotiated, the Covenant would join the Citadel as every other race has before them, and everything will return back to normal.

* * *

_**1 hour later  
Presidium Wards - C-Sec Security Checkpoint before entering the Citadel Tower**_

Four Turian C-Sec Officers were guarding a checkpoint that people had to go through before they entered the Citadel Tower, the heart of the Galactic Government. They had already been informed of the Covenant's arrival on the Citadel, so they were prepared in advance to receive the Covenant Diplomats that were on the way.

That being said, this still didn't prepare them for what they saw coming towards them.

A group of twelve was approaching the checkpoint, two of them were massive giants that stood over twelve feet tall and had what look like massive shields on their left arms. The Turian policemen were dumbfounded at the size of the creatures. By the Spirits, they were larger than an Elcor. And the other members of the Covenant were just as intimidating as the Mgalekgolo, save for maybe the Unggoy.

One of the Sangheili approached the group of C-Sec officers and spoke, _"We have arrived for the negotiations."_

_"R-right. If you'll each just follow me, We'll escort you to the Council Chambers."_

Normally, he would of asked them to surrender their weapons, but in honesty, he was certain would die in the process if he tried to even get just the Mgalekgolo to give up their weapons, so he kept his mouth shut and decided to just escort them up. Plus, if what he heard was correct, the Sangheili were the military commanders of the Covenant, so he was certain they would keep the giants in line.

* * *

_**1 Elevator Ride Later  
**_

The elevator door opened to the Covenant diplomats, revealing a massive and open environment made up of several stories, and lots of colorful trees. Hurok observed his new environment, taking in beauty of this 'Council Chambers'. He also noticed the defensiveness of the chambers, noting several good sniper's nest and several positions to hold the enemy at bay at. If this turned into a fight, the C-Sec forces will have the upper ground no matter where they make their stand.

At least their shields and weapons would give them an advantage over C-Sec.

He had his troops equipped with the best weapons in the Covenant's arsenal. Needlers, Carbines, and a new variant of the Type-25 Plasma Rifle, the Type-51 Plasma Repeater. A new design from the forges, it was basically a Type-25 enlarged and with a faster rate of fire. They had tested the weapons for the first time on Lorek, and they performed rather well, but they didn't have alot of the new weapons, so their use is limited.

Hurok and the rest of the Covenant Soldiers moved up the stairs, continuing to observe their surroundings as they proceeded towards the Councilors, who were standing on an elevated platform. 'Obviously an intimidation technique. Show themselves as above whoever they're meeting.' Hurok thought. But it didn't impressed them.

Sangheili don't get intimidated. They're the ones who do the intimidating.

Hurok and his group stopped before the pedestals, the Citadel Councilors looking down on him and his soldiers. He simply stared right back, unflinching and unmoved. After a few moments of this staredown, Councilor Tevos spoke with a small smile.

* * *

_"Greetings. Welcome to the Citadel. I am Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics, to my left is Councilor Hyleen of the Turian Hierarchy, and to my right is Councilor Kilish of the Salarian Union. On behalf of the entire Citadel Races, we're happy to have you here on the Citadel to ensure peace between us."_

Hurok looked around the room, taking note of everyone's nervous expression of his group. He could feel the tension in the air, the anxiousness. He knew their 'C-Sec' was just waiting for them to make a wrong decision, so that they could open fire and fight them.

After a moment, he replied, _"Somehow, I doubt this."_

Tevos' smile disappeared with that statement, but recomposed herself, _"Regardless, now that you are here, we can commence with negotiating a peace. While all participants suffered some significant casualties, the Batarians have suffered worse than any other due to your apparent declaration of holy war against them. You've destroyed 21 of their colonies and It's estimated that some 42 million Batarians have lost their lives."_

_"The Turians haven't lost anywhere near this number, but our casualties were still pretty significant. In the Battle of Lorek, the 151st Legion, which numbered some 15,000 strong, was reduced to less than 300 soldiers. Including the loss of two Patrol Fleets, our casualties are listed at roughly 33,000. While again, nothing compared to the Batarians, it's still a large number of lives lost." _Councilor Hyleen spoke.

_"While the Asari nor the Salarians have lost any lives, this is still a grave situation that concerns the entire Galactic community. How has the Covenant faired in this conflict?" _Tevos asked.

_"We've lost a little over 250,000 Warriors, but nothing we can't replace."_

_"Very well. In terms of reparation, how much will the Covenant provide the Batarians for the loss of so many Colonies and lives?" _

_"None." _Hurok simply spoke, eyes narrowing.

The Councilors were taken aback by this. None?!

_"What do you mean none? You killed millions of innocent men, women, and children. Burned and destroyed nearly two dozen Colonies in a war you started, and you're telling us that you won't provide any form of compensation to help the Batarians rebuild?!" _Tevos spoke, almost shouting. She was now visibly angry, these upstart were not just being horrid, they were basically stating that they had killed millions and could care less.

_"Why in the name of the Forerunners would we help our enemy rebuild if they're not being incorporated into our Covenant? It makes no sense. And as for your claim of us starting this war, we did not. We entered a system to have the Batarian's Fleet open fire upon us. We did not know why at first, but the accidentally colliding with a foreign ship isn't a justification for out right opening fire on a unknown species. The Batarians have themselves and themselves only to blame for their current state." _

_"So instead of setting a better example-" _Kilish began.

_"You mean giving in to your petty demands and then basically submitting to your rule, which we won't, then I'm afraid that's not going to happen. I came here to agree to an end of hostilities, nothing more. We will not offer any compensation to the Batarians and we will not join your Citadel as a bunch of slaves dependent on you."_

_"No race have ever decline an offer to join the Citadel Races." _Councilor Hyleen spoke out, his voice low and threatening.

Hurok looked over to the Turian, _"And no enemy... has ever withstood our might." _He growled out, his deep and dark voice sending chills down everyone's spines.

* * *

In the crowd, a Krogan Battlemaster, arms crossed, was watching the events unfold with a smirk, chuckling softly, _"This guy looks like he's fun to kill shit with."_

* * *

Councilor Hyleen was about to retort, but Kilish beat him to it, _"If we agree to a simple peace treaty, will you agree to stop fighting and killing any members of the Citadel Races." _

_"Yes. No more of our forces will engage yours. We will also release the Turian Prisoners we capture during our Campaign on Lorek."_

Hyleen was shocked by this sudden revelation, _"You capture some of our soldiers?"_

_"Yes. About 1,200 in total, including the Admiral of the 22nd Fleet. We have a ship that's in route to your homeworld to return them."_

_"T-thank you. You have the gratitude of many Turians for this kindness."_

_"The last thing left to discuss is Territory. We have decided to colonize three areas in the Terminus Systems. They are called Sentry Omega, Attican Beta, and the Armstrong Nebula. We will use these to rebuild and set them up as area to use to conduct trade with local powers."_

The Councilors were disappointed that they were going to lose Virmire, but better they lose a potential Garden Colony than possibly millions of more lives, so none of them spoke up against this. They could always find more Garden Worlds and colonies in the future.

_"Very well. If there is nothing more to discuss, then let us proceed to sign the Peace Treaty officially ending the Citadel-Covenant War and return the galaxy to peace once more."_

Hurok, and Kilish, doubted that this would be the last time the Citadel and the Covenant would clash, but for now, peace was achieved. Now, Hurok needed to focus on rebuilding and restoring the Covenant to its rightful place as a superpower for the gods.

* * *

**_2 Hours Later - Presidium _**

The event was largely ceremonial and publicly broadcast, much to the annoyance of Hurok, but the Peace Treaty was signed. While he had originally planned on introducing the Quarians as the Covenant's newest member race, he had decided against it. In truth, it wasn't any of the Council's business if they were so quick to abandon the Quarians in their time of need.

This was all water under the bridge, however, and now Hurok and his group proceeded back to the Phantom in order to leave the Citadel and return home.

The Presidium was a large and vast space where the ambassadors of the Citadel Races kept residence and went about their duties. Numerous shops, restaurants, and recreational facilities dotted the Presidium serving its wealthy residents who lived and worked throughout the sector. Lush trees and garden added a serene beauty to the sector. Hurok,though, wasn't interested in observing anymore of the Citadel and just wished to return to his ship.

_"Hell of a show you gave everybody back there."_

Hurok turned to face the source of this voice, revealing itself to be a Krogan donned in Dark Maroon battle armor. The Krogan was smiling and looking right at the Sangheili Supreme Commander. Hurok was aware of the Krogan's... 'Fight-happy' nature, and this Krogan's body language was stating that he was looking for one.

_"I was not there to amuse."_

_"Nor did I figure you were. But, nevertheless, you've definitely gotten my attention. Seen quite a few videos of your Warriors in action. You've definitely earned the respect of a lot of Krogan. But I wanted to meet you in person, get a look at the Commander of this Covenant, see what he's made of."_

The Krogan walked all the way over to the Sangheili, coming face to face with Hurok.

Hurok growled, _"If you're attempting to intimidate me or threaten me, I would advice you didn't and walked away."_

Surprisingly, the Krogan raised his hands up defensively, chuckling, _"No, no. You got all wrong. I didn't come here to fight. I came here just to say that anyone who has the ability to go tell the Citadel Council to basically go fuck itself and get away with it... well, you've got the respect of a lot of Krogan that would love to get in on some future action you guys may have planned for the future, me included."_

Hurok tilted his head slightly, _"Are you... offering your service to the Covenant?"_

_"Yea, pretty much, as are a lot of Krogan on this station. Just give us a shout if you got a job for us. We're not cheap, but we do get the job done. And I would love to get my hands on one of those plasma weapons of yours. Just thought I would pass the message along."_

And with that, the Krogan walked off. Hurok watched the Krogan leave, before speaking up once more, _"What is your name, Krogan?"_

The Krogan turned, _"And why do you want to know?"_

_"Because I might just have a job for you and your fellow Krogan that is right up your alley."_

The Krogan smiled, and turned to completely face the Sangheili warrior, smiling as he spoke.

_"Wrex. My name is Urdnot Wrex. So what's the job?"_

* * *

_/Priority Message__\  
/To: Councilor Kilish\  
/From: __STG Black Ops: 5th &amp; 6th Battalions[]Jerlys System, Terminus Systems\  
/Operation: Revelations\  
__/Security Level: OMEGA\_

_/Message Details:_

_Councilor Kilish, we have some startling developments have have been made at the Facility. _

_First off, is that we have completed our measurments of the Facility and have found that it is over 75 km in length. It is massive and the amount of untold treasures found here could advance the the Citadel Races by hundreds if not thousands of years. However, we have encountered some serious obstacles along the way._

_We have concluded that there is some kind of highly advance AI controlling the facility and trying to impede our progress. Every new area we're able to unlock, will be locked right back down within a couple days. The VI drones are increasing in their ferocity of their attacks, and we have lost several good men in the process. Their behavior is rather odd. It is as if there's something here they don't want us to find. One such discovery we found they fought fiercely to keep from us._

_In one room of the facility that we've explored, we found a giant square tube that was filled with several small creatures that look like a gasbag with roots as legs. They're strange looking creatures, things I have never seen before. _

_After losing several men to the Drones, we secured the tubes and moved them back to our research center set up on the Facility. However, we need more men in order to effectively secure the site, the drones are very effective at impeding our process, and we have only been able to explore the 15% of the facility that we have already unlocked. But, we have secured many interesting pieces of technology and would be able to conduct more efficient research if we had at least 3 more battalions of STG._

_Other than this, I have nothing else to report to you, but will continue to send bi-weekly reports to you._

_End Message\_

* * *

**And that is it. Hope you enjoyed. Lemme know your thoughts and opinions in the reviews or feel free to ask questions via PM. As you know, I welcome constructive criticism, so by all means, tell me if I screwed something up.**

**I am going to start work on a Codex to explain what happened in the 10 year jump between chapters, as well as explain Hurok's sudden promotion to Supreme Commander. It will also go a little more in depth as to certain events, such as the Terra Nova Campaign or the Fall of Lorek. **

**Which means unfortunately, that since I'm now working on two projects, the rate in which chapters are published will be slowed by a little, but not too much :)**

**Anyway, I hope yall enjoyed and I'll see ya next time.**


	6. Revelations

**Hey guys welcome back to the latest chapter of Halo-Mass Effect. This Chapter will be mostly a Covenant focused chapter, and then the next chapter will focus more on the Citadel Races as well. **

**I don't own Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**GALACTIC TIMELINE  
**

**(Skip if you must, but I would recommend reading it.)**

**06.20.2105** \- The Council-Covenant War ends. The Batarian Hegemony, having taken the brunt of the Covenant onslaught in the war, in on the verge of economic collapse. The Covenant leave any and all Citadel space and retreat with their Quarian Allies to Virmire to begin rebuilding.

**07.08.2105** \- The Systems Alliance declare Terra Nova secured, and begin the long process of Reconstruction. Alliance Parliament consider reworking and rewriting how the Colonies are managed and governed.

**08.08.2105** \- Preston Cole arrives at the Luna Naval Academy to begin his career as a Naval Instructor for the Systems Alliance.

**12.25.2105** \- The Systems Alliance decide to commemorate a memorial to all the people who lost their lives in the Terra Nova Conflict.

**2108** \- The Batarian Hegemony's economy continues its downward spiral, with the fledging economy threatening to collapse all together. Citizens and Slaves begin to openly speak out against the Regime.

**2108** \- The Citadel Council decides to increase the military spending budget. The Treaty of Farixen is quietly modified to allow for a larger number of Dreadnoughts to be fielded. The Salarians begin research on new weapon systems and armor for ships and ground forces.

**2108** \- The _New_ _Covenant_ convert a few of the large Quarian Civilian Ships and merge them together to create primitive drydocks to use for maintaining and repairing the Fleet. The Quarians begin to conduct survey missions in Covenant territory to location mineral deposits for mining operations.

**2110** \- The Batarian Hegemony declares martial law as the situation within the Hegemony deteriorates. Riots occur throughout Batarian Space. The Galactic Community knows that the Hegemony's days are numbered.

**02.10.2110** \- The New Covenant negotiate trade agreements with several local powers in the Terminus Systems, while they continue to focus on building up their territory and repopulating their numbers.

**05.14.2110** \- The Systems Alliance Parliament agrees to maintain at minimum 6% of the Alliance Budget to spend on Military and Defense. Spending on Colonial Development is increased by 50%. Reach is declared to be the Official Capital of the SASC. (Systems Alliance Security Council; Military wing of the SA)

**06.16.2110** \- The New Covenant have began to plan for the future of the Navy by 'liberating' a couple dozen large orbital drydock facilities from local warlords and pirate fortresses, to commence with a future expansion of the New Covenant Navy. Hurok Wattinree has the best collective minds from Quarian, Sangheili, and Kig-yar come together to design new warships. Several designs are already being built and tested.

**08.19.2110** \- The Systems Alliance HIGHCOM decides to refit the SSV 'Spirit of Fire' and upgrade her arsenal, first by replacing the 150 ton MAC gun with the two 600 ton MAC guns salvaged from the UNSC Everest, while the third 600 ton MAC, along with the wreck of the Everest, was sent to Reach to be studied and reverse-engineered by Alliance R&amp;D. The refit is expected to take at least 5 years to be completed, as the 'Spirit' will have to receive increased Armor as well.

**2111** \- The Council begins to consider opening up new relays, at least a limited number of them, to expand the Citadel's power and territory.

**2111** \- The Systems Alliance begin a new expansion effort by colonizing 8 new Star Systems in the Local Cluster. No new Garden Worlds are found, but several Planets are found to have large quantities of materials used in the construction of Alliance Ships. Minor terraforming begins on a few of these worlds.

**2112** \- The Systems Alliance commences with an large scale expansion and upgrade of the Alliance Navy, hoping to increase the size of the Navy from 90 to 300 warships by 2125. Several new Designs of Frigates are also in the works, due to the questionable performance of the Athens-Class.

**01.28.2112** \- The Batarian Hegemony erupts into full blown Civil War, as the Hegemony continues to lose control of the masses. Slaves and Citizens alike rise up against the Hegemony Regime, demanding a change in Government and a better standard of living for all.

**2113** \- The New Covenant release their first line of prototype ships from the drydocks, hybrids that utilize Covenant and Mass Effect technology. They have yet to be tested in combat, though. Warships of the 'Old Guard' Classes of Covenant Warships that fought in the Covenant-Council War are being produced in record time.

**2113** \- The Council agrees to a radical decision to allow the opening of Mass Relays for a short time. The Citadel Council Races will be allowed to open 5 each, while the client races may open 3 each. This plan is not to be implemented until 2115.

**2115** \- The Batarian Civil War rages on, but it's obvious that the Hegemony is now on the losing end.

**2115** \- The Systems Alliance begin to implement and construct new ships designs selected into the Navy, such as the first line of Alliance Cruiser, the Sun Tzu-Class. The SSV Spirit of Fire's refit is completed, being equipped with two new 600 ton MAC guns, a Prototype 1000 ton MAC gun, and now 6 meters of Armor, as well as numerous new weapons systems and equipment.

**2115** \- The Citadel Races commences with the opening of numerous Relays, opening up new areas of the Galaxy to the Citadel Races. A few Garden Worlds are discovered and are immediately colonized. The Turians continue to expand the size of their Naval Fleets to counter the threat of a resurgent Covenant.

**05.13.2115** \- The New Covenant test their new warships for the first time against a Pirate Fortress on Turlore, a moon orbiting Terapso, in the Mil System. The new ships proved incredibly efficient and reliable in their respective roles, as the Pirate Base was conquered and the Pirates are eliminated. Covenant Military Leaders approve the new 'Hybrid' ships for mass production.

**2118 **\- The Batarian Hegemony has been pushed back to the Batarian Homeworld, Khar'shan, by Rebel Forces.

**2120 **\- The Systems Alliance has surpassed 12 billion in population, with nearly 75 million serving in the SASC. The Navy currently has 180 Warships.

**New Year-2121** \- The New Covenant Navy has surpassed 420 Warships and counting. There are rumors circulating that the Covenant are building a new supership in the Attican Beta, though most disregard it as nothing more than rumor.

**2121 **\- The Council Races continues to expand their military in order to counter the rising Covenant Threat. The Citadel Races increase spending on new military R&amp;D by almost 75%.

**02.04.2122** \- A New Covenant Exploration Fleet near Lorek detect an unusual but familiar signature deep beneath the Planet's surface. Excavations begin.

**07.23.2122** \- Present Day.

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.23.2122)  
Omega Nebula  
Fathar System  
Lorek**_

Lorek. Once a unique Garden World with 4.5 million inhabitants. Now, a scorched Planet with numerous glassed sections and multiple ruins of a once large and prosperous Batarian Colony. The wrecks of war machines and ruins of cities still dot the Colony, as if a silent reminder... a silent grave for those who died. It no longer rains on Lorek, the oceans and skies dried up long ago.

Or as one Batarian Poet remark, _"The heavens ran out of tears to shed for those who perished." _

But the Colony wasn't lifeless. Not completely. On the shadowed "Cold Pole" of the Planet, the massive ice caps were melting and revealing areas of the planet that had been hidden away for untold millenniums. While the sunward "Hot Pole's" oceans had effecitively been boiled away by the Covenants glassing of the Colony, the Cold Pole's ice caps, now heated up and melting, were slowly refilling the vast empty space that had been left behind from the fierce bombardment.

And apparently, the Cold Pole had a secret hidden beneath its ice.

* * *

_**New Covenant Archaeological Site, Main Building**_

The New Covenant had detected a odd signal hidden beneath the ice caps a little over 5 months ago. The odd part about this, was the New Covenant's Luminaries were reporting that the signal is Forerunner in origin. A Forerunner structure, here on this planet. They had been in this new 'galaxy' for 13 years and this is the first time the Luminaries had detected anything. The Covenant Leadership wanted to know why, and this structure may hold the answer to their predicament.

The Covenant Archaeological Site wasn't a large site, about a couple dozen buildings connected together with a Covenant Battlecruiser holding position overhead. Scarabs had been deployed to help excavate and remove the layers of ice that encased the site, as the Covenant were wary to use the Battlecruiser's Energy Projector.

_"Keelah, it's cold. I can feel it through my suit." _Spoke a Quarian scientist, Jani'Rallen, shivering slightly, even though they had a large fire going right behind them.

The large Sangheili next to her, remained silent. He was clad in Golden Armor, signifying his rank as a General.

Kolre Uzinaree wasn't interested in the cold. He had been on enough frozen wastelands to learn how to deal with the cold. Plus, his Spec Ops suit was doing its job well enough to keep him functional. He continued to watch the progress of the the excavation on the Holo-pad, the dozen Scarabs working nonstop at removing the surrounding ice.

He grunted in agreement, though, but spoke on the matter at hand, _"How does the digging go?"_

_"The Scarabs should be done in a half-hour. Personally, though, I think we should have used the Energy Projector. Would have saved us alot of time."_ A Kig-yar spoke up

_"We do not know what kind of condition this structure is in. As far as we know, they could already be severely damaged and using that massive weapon could destroy them." _ The Quarian Scientist replied. She really didn't know anything about the Forerunners, except from what the Covenant had told them. While Jani didn't believe they were gods, a chance to study their technology up close was too good a chance to pass up, if they were as advanced as they were claimed to be.

_"The Quarian is correct. We have no knowledge of the integrity of the holy site. Therefore, we must tread carefully in revealing them."_

Kolre looked back at the holo-pad and spoke, _"Urdnot, how are things fairing at your location?"_

_'... I'm freezing my Quads off, but I'm good.' _Came the slightly agitated voice of Urdnot Wrex, who was stationed on one of the Scarabs.

_"Understood, keep us posted on the progress. You and your warriors are doing great work for-"_

_'Kolre... do me a favor and keep the religious crap to yourself, out.' _The line went dead after.

Kolre snarled a little at that remark. How dare he insult the gods. Granted, he understood both the Krogan and Quarian's skepticism about the Forerunners, but surely after finding this holy site, this would change their views. A few of the Quarians had even converted to the Covenant Faith over the years.

In the Krogans' case, apparently not. They were mercenaries, through and through. They could care less about the religious aspect of their mission. They were here for money and battle.

At least they were useful in combat. That didn't change the fact Kolre was now in a foul mood.

_"Disrespectful toad. What is the status of our reinforcements? I do not want us being caught off guard and unprepared if a group of Pirates decide to come through."_

_"General, we have 5 Heavy Frigates coming in. They should be here within the hour." _A Sangheili Minor spoke.

* * *

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, he stepped away from the holo-pad and moved into another room, more or less, a relaxation room set up to provide a small amount of comfort to the to personnel stationed there. A few staff were in the room, either sitting, conversing, or eating. Kolre enter and looked up to the large video projector on the wall, seeing what was on the screen. Citadel News was on, and apparently, it was talking about the Batarian Civil War.

Video of the fighting was being played on screen, showing the savagery of the fighting between the Rebels and the Hegemony.

The Asari newswoman on the screen continued speaking, _'Fighting continued in the Capital of Khar'shan, Holvirk. The Rebel forces continue to gain ground and push back the Hegemony Forces. The Hegemony is now estimated to only have control of only a tenth of the Planet and have been continuing to lose ground on all fronts and Colonies ever since Admiral Balken and his Fleet defected to the Rebels 3 years ago. It's believed by many that the Hegemony will collapse at any time now as most experts agree they can't hold back the determined Rebel assaults.' _

Kolre isn't too interested on what's happening with the Batarians. As far as he was concerned, the Batarians were a neutralized threat, for now. And the New Covenant was now the rising power in the Terminus Systems. Something that a few pirate groups weren't too fond of, especially a certain Asari that ruled Omega.

* * *

Many in Citadel Space were surprised as to why the Covenant weren't colonizing the worlds they had taken from the Batarians, but when the Citadel sent scouts to the former Hegemony worlds, they quickly learned why.

Most of the former Hegemony worlds were nothing more than balls of glass, uninhabitable and unsuited for any kind of Colonization. It would take centuries just to terraform them back to pre-war conditions, by some estimates. The Covenant didn't feel that they were worth the resources to try and terraform.

* * *

Not that Kolre was concerned with any of this. Uzinaree tapped his Omni-tool and had it changed the video screen to another news station that was reporting on events in the Citadel. He had to admit, these Omni-tools had come quite in handy at times, though he tried to limit his use of this alien tech. Kolre had heard about the Council finding several new Garden Worlds when they had opened up dozens of Mass Relays a few years back, and that massive Colonization efforts were being made by all the species of the Citadel.

The Covenant Leadership was considering doing the same and expanding out to Systems reachable only through the Void, as they weren't connected to Mass Relays and they were too far away for the conventional method of FTL travel used by the Citadel Races. But for now, they were content with expanding and building up what they already controlled.

_"General Uzinaree, the Hierarchs wishes to speak with you," _A Sangheili Major spoke, kneeling. Kolre moved out of the room and head towards the communications room. Inside the room was a private chamber that served as the communications room between the Lorek Outpost and the New Covenant Hierarchs. Kolre stepped into the room, and the holo-projector came to life.

The images of 5 individuals appeared. Quarian Hierarch Delun'Rallen, Sangheili Hierarch Hurok Wattinree, Kig-yar Hierarch Jek Halve, Unggoy Hierarch Malyap, and Lekgolo Hierarch Goldo Jirule Fasu. Each Councilor had a respective role in the New Covenant and represented their own race in the Hierarchy.

This radical step of making Covenant races Hierarchs, a position only held by the San'Shyuum, was seen as a neccessity if they were going to survive. They couldn't stay as a Military Regime. Kolre kneeled and bowed before the Hierarchs.

* * *

And then there was the issue of population. While it was not very well known, the Covenant does in fact have females serving in the Covenant Military. In fact, about a fifth of the Sangheili in the Fleet of Divine Fury were female. Ever since they official colonized Virmire, all members of the Covenant have been encouraged to have lots of children and usher in a baby boom. Now, 17 years later, the populations have been going up at a constant rate. The combined numbers of the New Covenant are expected to surpass 150 million before the year's end, as the population continues to experience this baby boom. This is mostly helped by the fact that most Covenant Races lay eggs as opposed to live births.

* * *

Hurok Wattinree was the first to speak, _"General Uzinaree, I hope you have good news for us today."_

_"I do, noble Hierarchs. The excavation of the site is on schedule. Our diggers tell me we should be able to enter the structure within half an hour."_

_"This is good to hear, General. It will quite an interesting day to acquire and study actual Forerunner technology, if that is what this is." _Delun spoke next, crossing his arms as he looked over to the other Hierarchs.

_"I will send word the moment we have access to the structure, noble Hierarchs."_

_"Very well, General. Here are your orders for now, as there are some pressing matters at home that require our attention. If the structure is in fact a relic of our Gods, then you are to take your forces and explore it thoroughly. If it leads to the location of another site, you are to send word to us, but you will have our blessings to send a strike force to the site in order to secure it. Is this understood?"_

_"Yes, Hierarch. Your will be done."_

And with this, the Holograms dissipated, ending the conversation. Hurok turned and left the room. He had work to do.

* * *

_**Sentry Omega  
Hoc System  
Virmire  
New Charity, Covenant Capital City **_

Virmire, once a virgin Garden World untouched by civilization. But now, it is the Capital of the New Covenant, with 145 million inhabitants living on its surface. Several cities span the Planet, with numerous Covenant Warships in orbit defending the Planet from anyone dumb enough to try and attack it.

One of the cities on Virmire was New Charity, the Capital of the New Covenant and its largest city, with 29 million inhabitants.

Being the first city constructed on Virmire, situated on the coast with a massive inland bay, it is also unique amongst the other cities as many of the Quarians' old Migrant Fleet ships were used to building the first housing on the Planet for the Quarians. Several were merged together to create mini-skyscrapers. The Quarian Liveships were even grounded and turned into massive manufacturing centers to help provide everything the Quarians would need to survive.

One of these Liveships is in New Charity, while the other two are separated and place in two other cities on the Planet.

Today, New Charity is a unique and beautiful city along with the dozen other large cities that populate Virmire, incorporating Covenant and Quarian architecture in its designing with numerous skyscrapers dotting the skyline.

One of these buildings was the Council Chambers. This was where the Council and the Noble Hierarchs gathered to discuss and decide on key matters that would affect the whole of the New Covenant. The interior of the building was a vast space, made up of three stories.

The first and second stories had seating areas for the 300 Councilors of the Council. There were sixty for each species, with the Sangheili and the Quarians sitting on the second story, and the other races sitting on the first story. Opposite of them, were the Noble Hierarchs, the supreme leaders of the New Covenant, who were situated on a pedestal platform raised halfway between the first and second story.

The decision by Hurok to appoint member races of the Covenant to the position of Councilors and Hierarchs, the latter having been only reserved for the San'Shyuum, had been a very questionable but necessary decision by Hurok to maintain order within the Covenant ranks. One man in charge of multiple races wouldn't have lasted, and Hurok knew that some questionable changes needed to happen in order to ensure their survival.

The third story was mostly made up of watchtowers and observing posts, where snipers take up position and watch out for any would be assassins. And today, there were quite a number of guards keeping watch.

_**Council Chambers**_

_"This is unacceptable! I will not stand for it!" _A Quarian Councilor shouted inside the chambers. Councilors of all races were arguing back and forth.

_"We need to expand our domain. We cannot remain cowering in our Systems-" _A Sangheili Councilor retorted.

_"But expanding closer towards Aria's Fortress is just asking for trouble! If we antagonize her, she'll rally the entire Terminus Systems against us!"_

_"Then let them come! We'll destroy them as we have every other enemy of the Covenant."_

_"I say we open negotiations with her, offer her something in return for our expansion into the Terminus Systems." _A Kig-yar Councilor spoke up

_"I will not have the Covenant lower itself to making deals with Pirates! That kind of talk is heresy!" _Another Sangheili shouted.

_"ENOUGH!" _Roared Hurok, slamming his fist down onto the pedestal.

The room fell silent with the roar of the Supreme Commander's thunderous voice. All eyes looked towards him as he observed the room. He spoke with a lower voice.

_"We shall hear the arguments and propositions of each race. Let us start with the Quarians."_

One of the Quarian Councilors stood up, _"Noble Hierarchs, the Quarian Council does not have a problem with expanding our domain. But, expanding towards Omega is just asking for trouble we do not need at this moment. Aria is considered by many to be the Queen of the Terminus Systems. If we antagonize her, she may very well unite the Terminus against us. We could be facing upwards of 2,500 warships of various caliber, were as we have barely over 420 warships at the moment. That is why the Covenant needs to expand to the East and Southeast, instead of to the West and Northwest." _

The Hierarchs took this into consideration, as Hurok spoke once more, _"Sangheili."_

A large and imposing Sangheili Councilor stood up, snarling, _"Noble Hierarchs, if we go along with this plan, then we will be seen as weak and cowardly in the eyes of the Galaxy as a whole. We should not have to fear the complaints of a Pirate! If they try to oppose us, then we should use our military might to show them just how powerful we are and why no one should stand in our way!"_ The roars of several agreeing Sangheili filled the chambers after his speech.

Hierarch Duren'Rallen spoke next after hearing the Sangheili proposal, _"Kig-yar."_

A Kig-yar Councilor stood up and spoke, _"Hierarchs, both the Quarians and Sangheili bring up some good points. However, the Quarians need to realize that Pirates will always be a problem for us, considering where we are. And the Sangheili have apparently forgotten that most Kig-yar have a pirate background of some sort." _The same Sangheili that spoke early growled a little, _"What the Kig-yar Council and myself have proposed is that instead of either one of the previous proposals, we instead expand in all directions, but at the same time, negotiate a deal with Aria and a few of the other Warlords. Maybe even help her open a couple of those Relays like the Citadel did. Either way, I don't see us making any kind of expanse without making a deal of some sort with Aria in order to avoid a conflict."_

While normally in the past Hurok wouldn't have given the words of a Kig-yar much thought, they actually have had several good ideas that have been implemented by the New Covenant. In fact, the New Covenant's Frigate designs were made by a joint Quarian and Kig-yar effort, and they're now the most numerous ships in the Covenant Navy.

_"What about the Unggoy and Lekgolo?"_

An Unggoy Councilor stepped up and spoke, _"We in agreement with Kig-yar."_

An Mgalekgolo stepped up and spoke with a synthesized voice, _"The Lekgolo are indifferent with which ever decision the Hierarchs make. Either way, it will benefit our race." _This was a typical answer for the Lekgolos. They typically didn't care about what the other races were doing as long as it didn't threaten them.

Hurok and the other Hierarchs had heard all they needed to hear, _"We will convene and decide which course of action is best for our civilization to take. We'll recall the Council back when we have made our decision. For now, the Council is dismissed."_

The Councilors, after a moment of speaking among themselves, proceeded to stand from their seats and left the Council Chambers.

* * *

**Chamber of the Hierarchs**

_"They have all raised fair points, but the fact remains that whatever our choice is, we have to expand outward. We're already colonizing a few star systems near the Mass Relays that are too far for Citadel FTL travel, but none of these systems have any Garden Worlds. Any of them that are suitable for habitation will need to be terraformed first, and that will take decades of work for some of them. Time that we don't have. So, what are the other Hierarchs thoughts on this matter?" _Duren'Rallen spoke to the other Hierarchs.

Hierarch Jek Halve, a Ruutian Kig-yar, was the first to speak, _"Expansion will be good for our people, but at the same time, we need to consider the threat level of the local powers in the Terminus Systems, as well as the Citadel Races and what threat they may pose to us. This is why I like the idea of negotiating a deal with Aria. We could be setting up a potential buffer state between us and the Citadel Races."_

_"They won't dare enter the Terminus if it means starting a war with the Local Powers in the Terminus Systems. What we need to do is continue building up our military and territory. We already have reports that the Council Races are increasing and expanding their military capacity. The opening of so many new Relays is testament to this." _Lekgolo Hierarch Goldo spoke, its synthesized voice echoing across the room.

Unggoy Hierarch Malyap spoke next, _"Who closest P__owers that pose biggest threat to us?" _While reforms in Covenant Education had done wonders for the Unggoy, it was still a work in progress.

A Holographic display appeared before all of them, showing them the current Terminus Warlords and Dictators near Covenant Space.

* * *

_/Local Powers in the Terminus Systems near Covenant Space\_

* * *

_/Casporal Dominion\_

_/Tosal Nym\/Xe Cha System\/The Shrike Abyssal\  
_

_/Date Colony Founded: 2105\  
_

_/Date Government Founded: 02.05.2112\_

_/Government Type: Dictatorship\_

_/Ruler: Dhask Casporal (Batarian; 74 years old)\  
_

_/Population: 94,130,000+ (And Rising; 90% Batarian, 1% Turian, 9% Various Slave Races)\_

_/Military Strength: 5,200,000 Est.\  
/Naval Strength: 105 Warships Total (Most From Council-Covenant War Era, includes 3 Dreadnoughts), Various Civilians ships used in various roles\_

_/Info: During the Council-Covenant War, a handful of Batarian Colonies' Inhabitants fled their worlds in fear of being the New Covenant's next target, but had nowhere to go. But on 06.14.2105, a Hegemony Admiral, Dhask Casporal, told them all to head towards the Xe Cha System to regroup. When the ships arrived at the system, the Admiral told them to start colonizing Tosal Nym, a Garden World that had suffered an extinction event some thousands of untold millenniums ago and was now mostly lifeless. Nevertheless, the Batarian Refugees colonized the world and started to terraform the atmosphere to more acceptable levels, introducing foreign fauna and wildlife onto the Planet, and setting up numerous farms and settlements all across the Planet. By the end of the year, the population numbered some 30,000,000._

_After the end of the war, the Batarian Hegemony laid claim to the colony and send massive amounts of resources and manpower to aid in the Colony's development, much to the benefit of Admiral Casporal, who proclaimed himself Governor of the Colony. But on 01.28.2112, the Batarian Hegemony collapsed into a full blown civil war. When the Military Command ordered Casporal to send his fleet home to help quell the rebellion, he refused, and on 02.05.2112 Governor Casporal declared that the Colony had seceded from the Hegemony and was a Sovereign Nation. The Hegemony, having too few ships to send to deal with the rebelling Colony and suppress the Rebels in their home cluster, chose to do nothing about this and focus on the threat at home. _

_Today, Dhask Casporal rules as the absolute head of the Government on the Planet, maintaining trade with the other local powers while continuously building up his own little Army and Navy. He's built up enough military strength to conquer neighboring Aphras and colonize it. Surprisingly, there is a significant number of Turians living on the Colony. Some conspiracy theorists claim that the Turian Hierarchy actual have sent Military Advisors to assist in training Casporal's military to use against the rising strength of the New Covenant. Most, however, disregard this wild claim.\_

* * *

_/Blood Packs\  
_

_/Mercenary Group mostly comprised of Krogan and Vorcha\_

_/Various Bases of Operation, Large Presence on Omega\_

_/Total number of personnel: 32,000,000 est.\_

* * *

_/Eclipse\_

_/Mercenary Group mostly comprised of Asari and Salarian\_

_/Various Bases of Operation, control 20% of Omega\_

_/Total number of personnel: 15,000,000 est.\_

* * *

_/Republic of Nulero\_

_/Nulero\/Rejath System\/1100 Light Years West from the Joyous Revival Nebula\_**(Armstrong)**

_/Date Founded: 1632\_

_/Government Type: Republic\_

_/Ruler: Chancellor Seinme T'sous (Asari; 544 years old)\_

_/Population: 486,420,000 (45% Asari, 42% Turian, 8% Elcor, 5% Other)\_

_/Military Strength: 45,000,000 Est. (Mostly Turian and Asari)\  
/Naval Strength: 350+ Warships (Includes 5 Dreadnoughts), Various Civilians ships conducting various roles\_

_/Info: Nulero is a Garden World with lush, golden colored forest that span a majority of the Planet, with a large biodiversity of crustaceans and arthropods in the bright green oceans, as well as mammal-like reptiles and birds that span the 5 large continents of Nulero, as well as its multitude of island chains and archipelagos._

_Once under the administration of a large and powerful Asari Corporation known as Hydron Industries, who majored in weapons development and research, They used the planet to help finance their Corporation by encouraging colonist to settle on the planet. But when colonist arrived on Nulero, they discovered that life here wasn't as grand as it was advertised. Severely oppressed, many colonist ended up working the fields or manufacturing centers that dotted the Planet, most times earning well below minimum wage as they basically slaved away in the factories and drydocks to produce the weapons of war that Hydron manufactured.  
_

_Finally, in 1715, the colonists rebelled on Nulero and began a brutal civil war for control of the planet against the Hydron Corporation and its Private Military. After a vicious 15 year struggle, Hydron was finally ousted from the Planet and the Colony was declared a Republic. Hydron, having spent trillions in their attempt to keep control of the Colony, never recovered from the setback and filed for bankruptcy 2 years later._

_In the centuries following the war, the Republic had to deal with numerous pirate and slaver raids, as well as local warlords wanting to carve out an empire of their own. But Nulero held out and defied the odds, and is now a major center of commerce in the Terminus Systems. The Republic's economic and military strength is one of the few powers in the Terminus Systems that actually rivals Omega in terms of influence, and may one day actually surpass Omega as the unofficial capital of the Terminus Systems._

* * *

Hurok observed the figures as he decided for himself which was the biggest threat. He knew full well that none of these groups liked the New Covenant, so he doubted they could be negotiated with peacefully. And the last thing the New Covenant needed was to being fighting a war at the moment. He wasn't one to back away from a fight, but he wasn't going to start a pointless one if he could help it. The New Covenant needed to focus on building its strength up.

_"... Are there any nearby bases that belong to these mercenaries? These... 'Eclipse' and 'Blood Packs'."_ Hurok finally spoke up, never taking his eyes off the data.

_"A few, but nothing our patrol fleets couldn't take out if we gave the order to." _Jek replied.

Hurok pondered if their best course of action was to in fact expand towards the other Relays. The New Covenant had already colonized several star systems in between the Attican Beta and the Joyous Revival Nebula, but surprisingly, there were very few that were suitable for the New Covenant's needs. Therefore, the New Covenant only had about 16 Star Systems total, most of them being situated in or between the Attican Beta and the Joyous Revival Nebula.

But now, it appeared that the New Covenant were at a crossroads, or so Hurok thought. On one hand, they could continue expanding into the unknown with the Void and hope to find something of value. Two, they could expand into several Mass Relay populated areas, but antagonize the local powers of the Terminus to unite and rise against them. Or Thr-

_"Why don't we just open new Relays and expand into unknown systems with the Void at the same time?" _

The question came surprisingly from the Lekgolo Hierarch Goldo, who was usually quiet on such matters. And the more Hurok pondered its question, the more he wondered why he hadn't thought of that himself. He really needed to start thinking more 'outside the box' as Jek put it.

_"What do you mean exactly, Goldo?"_

_"We're suggesting that we open up new Relays in the Terminus Systems, and expand from our current systems with the Void at the same time. The chances of us finding a new star system with Garden Worlds and raw materials will be more favorable."_

_"And how do you propose we go about opening new Relays?! That could have the Citadel Races all over us in a heartbeat." _Duren spoke up, nervous about this idea.

_"No, they just opened up a series of Mass Relays themselves. And word around the Galaxy is that they're planning to do it again in a couple years, considering the success of the previous expansion. It's a solid idea for us. But, we can't just go expanding and opening new Relays just out of the blue. The local powers will feel threatened by this aggressive move. We need to make a deal with one or two of these powers at least, conjure up something that seems favorable to them at least." _Jek added in, going over the plan in her head. It was solid, but at the same time they could run the risk of overextending themselves, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

_"Keelah, we're going to be here for a while. Well, might as well get comfortable. So, what kind of deal could we make with Nulero?"_

* * *

**_Lorek  
Ancient Forerunner Structure_**

The long wait was over. They had revealed the Forerunner holy site to the world. And now, they were going to reveal its treasures. Kolre Uzinaree and his lance of Sangheili moved through the Facility with awe and divine humbleness, but at the same time with caution.

Jani'Rallen was in pure awe at the architecture before her. The only word that could come to mind was beautiful. The silver coloring of the semi-triangular and geometric building had multitudes of blue lighting that danced across the surfaces. Every hallway was just as beautiful as the last.

Urdnot Wrex wasn't sure what to think of this place. He was more or less looking out for anything that might try to kill them. He wasn't liking how quiet the place was. Places like this usually had something inside them waiting to kill intruders.

_"So this place was built by the Forerunners?" _Wrex finally asked.

_"Yes. A holy relic left by our gods, left to help guide us in our path to the Great Journey and Eternal Salvation." _Kolre replied, his voice confident.

_"Uh-huh... So how come we haven't seen one of these 'Relics' until now?" _

Kolre was about to retort the Krogan's questioning of their holy quest, but then began to ponder that himself. Why was it that they haven't found a Forerunner Relic until now? In the past, they were normally finding a planet full of them every two or three months. But then they ended up here with these strange aliens, unable to contact home for some reason. Things weren't adding up.

_"I'm... honestly not sure. But, I believe fully that this structure will provide us with the answers we seek. Rallen, how close are we to the signal?"_

_"Another 50 meters according to your luminary. I can't wait to get hands on research with this incredible place." _The Quarian replied, excited beyond anything.

They continued traveling down the hallways and rooms of the Ancient Structure, until they came to a stop before a massive door, with several blue lights dancing on the door in beautiful patterns. Jani'Rallen scanned the door and spoke up, _"This is it. The source of the signal is coming from behind this door. We need to get it open." _

Wrex started to size up the door, taking a guess at how thick it was based on the other doors they've seen. From what he's seen so far, he'd say about a meter thick.

_"I think if we set a couple plasma charges on the door-"_

_"Absolutely not! We will not defile this place with such heresy!" _A Sangheili roared at the Krogan Battlemaster.

_"Then have fun trying to open-"_

Suddenly, a whir of sounds roared throughout the facility, causing the group to pull out their weapons and scan their surroundings for targets. The door in front of them emitted a blue screen of light that swept over the group. Once it finished, the room went silent for several seconds. The group was getting more and more anxious with each second. What were they about to see behind the door? Or was something about to come out behind it?

The door suddenly blinked and beeped a few times, before opening up. Kolre and the others looked into the room behind the door and were stunned by what they saw.

Behind the door was a massive room, filled with numerous architectural beauties and a beautiful white-blue luminescence that filled the room. In the center of the room, there was two semi-triangular arches that connected in the center, with a large orb of light underneath the center.

_"Keelah... it's beautiful. And this place still has enough power for something like this? Incredible." _Jani mostly said to herself, not speaking very loudly due to being overwhelmed at the moment.

_"By the holy gods, an Archive." _One of the Sangheili spoke, before bowing down and muttering words of prayer under his breath. He was soon joined in by most of the other Sangheili save for Kolre.

_"What the hell are they doing?" _Wrex spoke up, glancing at the bowing reptilians before scanning the room with his Claymore Shotgun.

_"Show respect for this wonderful gift bestowed to us! We are not worthy of such a blessed treasure from the gods." _A Sangheili snarled at the Krogan.

_"What exactly is an Archive to you?" _Jani asked. As far as she knew, Quarians and Sangheili could have entirely different concepts as to what an Archive was.

_"An Archive provides data and locations for other sites and facilities. We may be able to learn more about our predicament from this Archive once we access it."_

Ooor they both had similar lines of thought regarding the definition of the word 'Archive'.

Kolre finished speaking and approached the orb of light. He lowered his Carbine and raised his hand up to the orb, touching it. The moment he touched the orb, the arches separated and collapsed backwards, while the white orb dropped down slightly before expanding rapidly into numerous tiny lights, too many to count and covered a large area of the room. The lights began to move and form into a massive shape.

As the shape began to become more clear, Jani realized what it was the lights were forming. It was a gigantic representation of a galaxy.

The lights finished moving, and sure enough, they took the shape of a massive galaxy, each little light representing a Star System, and one massive light at the center..

_"...Is that it? A giant map?" _Wrex spoke up, looking around the room.

_"It's not just a map. It's a map of a Galaxy." _Jani spoke up, her eyes fixated on the beautiful spectacle.

Wrex snorted, _"If I wanted to see a map, I would have stayed on the Citadel and-"_

The Galactic representation suddenly and swiftly changed into a new form. It turned into what appeared to be... Keelah it wasn't.

_"Is that the Citadel?!" _Jani gasped out.

Sure enough, several he lights had morphed together and changed into the form of the Citadel, showing the massive five arms of the giant space station and several ships going in or out of the the Station's docking areas. Numerous Glyphs were on the side of the holographic projection, to what Jani could assume was the species' language showing statistics for the Citadel.

_"This is a map of our entire Galaxy, all in real time. H-how is that even possible?" _The Quarian was effectively dumbstruck. She had never seen anything so advance in her life, and she doubted that any of the current space-faring races had anything even close to this advance in the entire Galaxy. This was thousands, no, _tens _of thousands of years more advance than anything they could come up with.

_"They must have probes observing areas of interest and sending data back here." _Wrex spoke up.

_"Perhaps, but that doesn't explain how's their sending so much data back here in real time, and while this facility was buried under 4800 meters of ice!"_

_"I don't know, maybe they developed a QEC or something." _Came the Krogan's grumbled reply.

Korle wasn't focused on the Quarian and Krogan's conversation, though. This Archive responds to vocal commands. Therefore...

_"Archive. Show the location of other Forerunner sites." _He commanded.

The holographic lights changed back into the map of the Galaxy, but with the star system they were in blinking, along with seven other star systems that had been enlarged slightly and were blinking.

_"According to this map, there are seven other sites with some form of Forerunner Technology." _Jani spoke up, observing the map.

Several Sangheili gasped at this, which confused the Quarian and Krogan.

_"S-seven sites? C-could... could these be..." _A Sangheili Major spoke up, almost too shocked for words.

_"It must be! I-it could not be anything else." _Another Sangheili, a Minor, responded.

Kolre, unsure himself, nervously spoke up, wondering if they were about to be shown the location of the holiest of Forerunner sites.

_"Archive. A-are these... are these the locations of the Halos?"_

Deathly silence followed for a few seconds. Then, a couple of low beeps could be heard, along with the flashing star systems turning red with the beeps. This confused Kolre.

_"What does that mean?"_

_"I think it means no." _Wrex pipped in. He didn't know what a 'Halo' was, but in truth he didn't care.

Kolre sighed, he knew it was too good to be true. Their search for the divine instruments would continue then. Meanwhile...

_"Archive, is there an Oracle at any of these sites?"_

The same thing happened as before. Flashing red and a couple of beeps.

_"Archive. Where is Covenant Territory?"_

Again. Flashing red and beeps.

_"Damn... So the mystery of our brethren's location continues to plague us."_

Jani stepped up to the Sangheili Ultra, _"Look. If we could download this data onto a Monitor-"_

Suddenly, one of the flashing star systems expanded and enlarged. The other sites continued to flash, but this one site in particular flash solid white instead of a whitish-blue like the other sites. Glyphs appeared on the side of the star system, more than likely statistics about the system and the site.

Kolre was perplexed by this, but came to his own conclusion. This one particular site must be of grave importance.

Then the star system started flashing red and beeping numerous times. Kolre and the rest of the group was unsure of what this meant.

_"Archive, expand the image of the Star System." _

The Star System expanded to show a star of considerable size, orbited by 3 planets. One of them was a massive gas giant, where the flashing was originating from.

_"Archive, expand the image of the gas giant."_

The holographs expanded the image of the gas giant to show an enormous facility orbiting in the gas giant's shadow. The facility was shaped somewhat like an upside down teardrop that had five massive arches sprawling over it from the top. The were what appeared to be 6 cruiser-sized warships either docked with or in orbit of the facility. Someone was at the facility, defiling it with their unholy steps. Desecrating it with their heresy.

Someone was going to _fucking die._

Kolre snarled and looked back to the group, _"Get the location of this facility downloaded to the fleet above, now! We're moving out immediately." _

And with this, the Sangheili and his Lance moved back to the surface. Jani moved to follow, but was stopped by Kolre.

_"Stay here and continue your study of the relic, Scientist. I will leave a Legion of our finest warriors to guard this facility and a Frigate in orbit. But I will need the Spec Ops Forces in order to secure the other holy site."_

Wrex was chuckling, excited. They were about to get into some actual fun. His type of fun. He spoke into his comms, _"Any Krogan who want to see some action better get on board now."_

* * *

_**1 Hour Later  
CCS-Battlecruiser 'Kindled Spirit'  
**__**Bridge**_

Shipmaster Kida 'Vazamee watched on the holographs as the last of the dropships entered the CAR-Heavy Frigates. While the new ships had been tried and tested several times against Pirates, the Shipmaster, as with most Sangheili, still wasn't entirely trusting of the new designs.

* * *

The CAR-Heavy Frigates were just one of the half dozen new warships being produced and tested by the New Covenant. 950 meters long, 403 meters wide, and roughly 204 meters tall, the CAR class were designed to replace the old and underarmed SDV-Heavy Corvettes, being given heavier firepower and more armor. They are also one of the first hybrid ships, meaning they utilized Covenant and Mass Effect technology.

Like their predecessors, they're doubled-hull, similar in concept of the SDVs, but unlike the SDVs, the CARs have a dozen Mass Drivers mounted on both sides of the lower 'second hull', acting as a close range anti-ship weapon battery. It is also equipped with 2 Light Cruiser-caliber Mass Accelerators that runs down the length of the spine. Eight Plasma Turrets were mounted on the sides of the main hull, which could fire Plasma Torpedoes or just normal Plasma Bolts. Various numbers of Pulse Lasers also dot the hull.

Their Armor and Protection was very sufficient as well. Armored with 2.5 meters of Nanolaminate Plating, as well as Energy Shielding and an emergency Kinetic Barrier that activates if the shielding fails. They're equipped with two different engines that run on two separate power lines. 5 Repulsor engines serves as the ship's main form of propulsion, as well as powers up the Slipspace Drive used to enter the Void for FTL travel. It's also equipped with a Dreadnought-caliber Mass Effect engine, which is primarily used to power several of the weapons systems and the Kinetic Barrier.

The Heavy Frigates first saw combat against a Pirate Fortress some 5 years ago in the Mil System. Their jobs was to act as a screen for the larger Covenant Warships as they assaulted the Fortress. Surprisingly, they ended up being accredited with more ship kills than any of the other Covenant Warships in the battle, though they were also the most numerous present.

* * *

And now they were going to battle once more. But this time it was to save a holy site of their gods from being tainted.

_"Shipmaster, the last of the Dropships are loaded onto the ships. We are ready to jump at your command." _

_"Good. All ships, enter the Void. I want one Heavy Frigate to stay behind and guard our outpost. As soon as they are relieved, they are to join us." _

5 portals opened and appeared before the Covenant Warships. The Strike Force moved through the void and proceeded towards their objective. Towards their holy mission.

* * *

_**07.31,2122  
Terminus Systems  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
**__**Unknown Facility orbiting **__**Gas Giant Zulzirk**_

Zulzirk, an enormous gas giant whose mass was 20 times that of Jupiter. Within the orbit of this giant, was a Forerunner Facility. A Research Station to be precise. Locked away and isolated from the rest of the Galaxy intentionally, the facility was designed to catalog and study the various sentient races that populated this Galaxy, as well as safe guard something from being unleashed back unto the Universe.

But this Ancient Evil is about to reawaken.

* * *

_**STG Base**_

_"Where the hell is 5th Platoon? They should have reported back in 5 hours ago! Unacceptable." _STG Captain Bedorm Pudrok spoke up, pacing back and forth in the command room of the STG base they had set up. It wasn't a large base, mostly made up of communication hubs and several R&amp;D rooms that studied the various pieces of equipment they found on the station. Most of the STG crew stayed on one of the two Cruiers docked with the station.

This was the sixth time a unit of various size has disappeared and the second time a Platoon sized element has disappeared. Every time they would enter deep enough into the facility, they would get locked in and he would lose communications with them, but they could still see them as blips on their radar, but after awhile, each one would suddenly blink out of existence one by one, as if they just up and vanished. And now, some 150 STG Operatives were missing.

Pudrok wanted to know why.

It was probably that damn AI and its drones, its... Sentinels. But this time, he has had enough. They were going to take care of this damn synthetic once and for all. The entire 8th Battalion, 300 soldiers, was now in position to storm what they had concluded was the core of the AI construct, and shut it down.

_"8th Battalion, are you in position?"_

_'Affirmative, we're ready to commence with the strike.'_

_"Roger. Be advise, the AI will more than likely know we're about to strike, so be on your guard."_

_'Roger that. 8th Battalion, out.'_

* * *

Good. Despite the setback of missing Operatives, things were proceeding on schedule. The STG had explored some 40% of the Facility, which would have been higher if it wasn't for the AI constantly locking doors they would hack into and the Drones attacking them. They have also secured several items of interest from inside the facility. The technology of this site was incredible, well beyond that of any Prothean Relics. And the amazing part was, most of it still worked or had power, which baffled most of the scientist on board as to how something so old could remain operable for so long.

* * *

_"8th Battalion, you have a green light to proceed."_

_'Roger, we're moving in.'_

He could see the blips of 300 STG Operatives moving into the sector, most of them being in squads of 10 to 20 soldiers. With any luck, they should be able to find the AI's core and either destroy it or capture it for study. The 33 year old Salarian sighed. This facility was starting to become more trouble than it was worth. But the technology stashes here could leap the Citadel Races forwards by hundreds or even thousands of years.

And it was their's for the taking.

_"Captain Bedorm, we've got something on long range scanners, somethings coming into the system." _An Operative spoke up, manning a LADAR system.

Pudrok turned to the Operative, "What_ is it?"_

_"We're not- Sir, 5 portal signatures confirmed 50,000 km from the Planet!"_

_Portals. _Pudrok's blood ran cold at the word. Impossible, they couldn't possibly have known about this place. And if so, why were they here anyway?! Portals in space could only mean one thing.

The Covenant were here.

Sure enough, 5 Covenant Warships entered through the Portals in a staggered formation. 1 Battlecruiser and 4 of their newer 'Heavy Frigates'. Pudrok could only think of one reason as to why they were here. The ancient facility. It didn't matter how they found out about it. He couldn't allow this strategic piece of technological wonder fall into their hands.

_"Covenant presence confirmed! All ships prepare for battle!" _Bedorm shouted out. He was not going to let the Covenant get their claws on this site. Not if he could help it.

* * *

_**CCS-Battlecruiser 'Kindled Spirit'  
Bridge**_

Kida 'Vazamee observed the holographic projection of the Forerunner Facility, taking note of it shape. He also noticed the 6 Salarian STG Cruisers that were in between his Fleet and their goal. The Cruisers had set up a staggered defensive formation in front of the Facility. He could see that each one was equipped with only one Mass Accelerator each. His eyes narrowed. Their presence here was an offense that could not be tolerated. These Salarian fiends had defiled a holy relic.

And they will come to regret their transgression.

_"All ships, prepare for battle. Target their closest Warship with our Plasma Torpedoes." _He commanded.

_"Shipmaster, the enemy ships are firing."_

The ship shuddered a couple of times as two rounds struck the shields. But neither broke the shielding. This was the case for every other Covenant Ship as the Heavy Frigates returned fire, opening up with their twin Mass Accelerators. 8 slugs went flying towards the STG ships, slamming into their Kinetic Barriers. Both sides continue to fire Mass Accelerators at each other.

_"Shipmaster, the Torpedoes are ready to fire."_

_"Target the two closest Cruisers and fire."_

6 Plasma Torpedoes came to life as the Battlecruiser fired. The Torpedoes went screaming towards their target, which tried desperate evasive maneuvers to avoid the glowing balls of death, but they weren't quick enough. 3 Torpedoes hit their target, and two Cruisers were taken out.

_"I want our fighters deployed now. Achieve air supremacy and have our dropships descend to the Facility. Secure landing zones. Cleanse this holy site of their filth."_

Kida watched as numerous Seraphs and 8 Phantoms deployed out of the Battlecruiser. The battle was going relatively well. 3 STG Cruisers were down and another were about to join them, and they've only lost one Heavy Frigate. And now they were going to assault and liberate the holy site from the amphibian heretics.

* * *

_**Phantom Dropship**_

Kolre paced back and forth inside the dropship, tightening and relaxing the grip on his Carbine occasionally. The General was trying his best to steel his emotions and focus on the task at hand. They needed to remove the Salarians from this site and secure it for the Covenant. The Phantom shuddered every now and then.

The Problem? He had left the majority of his forces back at Lorek to protect the site, leaving him with only a Battalion of 600 Covenant Spec Ops Warriors, along with about 200 Quarian Marines deployed from the Heavy Frigates, and Urdnot Wrex's Company of 100 Krogan Mercenaries. And according to reports, his forces were facing some 1200 STG Operatives. He was going to have to be cautious and smart about the deployment of his forces.

This fight was going to be brutal and many were going to die. So be it.

_"Take heed brothers, and listen. When we joined the Covenant, we took an oath!" _Kolre roared, pacing among the ranks of Covenant Spec Ops.

_"According to our station! All without exception!" _Came the response.

_"On the blood of our Fathers, on the blood of our sons... we swore to uphold the Covenant!" _Kolre curled his fist.

_"Even to our dying breath!"_

_"Those who would break this oath or defile sacred sites such as this one are Heretics, worthy of neither pity, nor mercy! Even now, they desecrate this holy site with their presence, tearing apart our Lords' creation for their own vile needs!" _Kolre grabs the shoulder of a Sangheili Spec Ops Commander, the White Armor glistening softly in the low light. The Commander gave the General a respectful nod, which was returned by Kolre.

_"We shall grind them into dust!"_

_"And continue our march to Glorious Salvation! My Brothers, prepare for combat and show these Heretics the might of the Covenant!"_

A chorus of approving roars echoed inside the Phantom. Kolre lifted up his Carbine as the side doors opened, revealing a platform below them that was connected to the large facility.

Kolre ran out and jumped down to the platform below.

* * *

_**07.31.2122  
Omega Nebula  
Sahrabarik System  
12,000 km from Omega Station  
SDV Heavy Corvette 'Solemn Fervor'  
Bridge**_

Rek Thon wasn't having a good day. In fact, today was probably going to be one of the shittiest days of his life. First, he fell out of bed this morning, then nearly got blown up when one of the stupid Unggoy's accidentally activated one of it's plasma grenades. Then, he was ordered by the Hierarchs to contact Aria T'Loak and offer her some sort of trade proposal that they've made up. And now, some jackass Batarian at the docks was trying to tell him he wasn't allowed to dock, even though the docks can used by pretty much anyone considering they aren't regulated by anyone.

He had one word to sum up how the Rhuutian Kig-yar's day was going so far. _"Fuck."_

_"Can't we just shoot this guy?" _One of the bridge officers, also a Kig Yar, spoke up.

_"No, not yet. Just get the ship in position and let's get on board. I want to get this over with and go back to sleep." _Rek honestly wasn't in the mood to deal with any bullshit, especially from some Batarian probably looking for a little payback for how badly they got beat in the war.

The SDV Heavy Corvette continued its approach with the large space station. A Type-44 Phantom was prepped for takeoff as the Heavy Corvette slowed to a halt.

_"We good to go?" _

_"Yea. Phantom's waiting for us."_

_"Then let's get this over with." _Rek replied with a yawn. He took a swig from his flask of Geruz, a popular alcoholic drink amongst Kig-yar, especially the pirates.

They walked down to the hangar of the SDV and loaded up onto the Phantom, some 12 Kig-yar arming themselves with Type-33 Needlers, Type-31 Needle Rifles, or even a few Mass Effect Weapons, while loading up several boxes onto the Phantom that had been prepped. Why? Rek didn't know. Rek took his trusted Type-31 Needle Rifle and a M-9 Tempest SMG, something he picked up from a weapon's stash when his ship raided a Frigate about 10 years back.

* * *

Nowadays, it's not uncommon to see Kig-yar using Mass Effect powered Weaponry, especially SMGs and Shotguns. Many Kig-yar have taken a personal liking to one Sub-machine gun in particular, the M-9 Tempest. Developed by a Turian Security Firm, it's become very popular with the Kig-yar as a replacement for the Type-25 Plasma Pistol, which lacks in killing power. Once a Kig-yar is able to get his/her hands on one, they typically give the SMG a few modifications to suit their needs.

One of the most common being the adding of a foregrip to the side of the weapon, helping improve stability and accuracy under sustained fire. Another is the addition of a collapsible buttstock to help with accuracy. Some are even equipped with low level scope or an under-barrel Plasma Dagger for melee. Regardless of what little mods they have attached to them, most people agree that the M-9 Tempest is the Kig-yar's favorite among the Mass Effect Weapons.

* * *

Rek secured the two weapons into his person, did one last overlook of his armor, and stepped into the Phantom. The other 11 Kig-yar entered the Dropship was well and waited for it to take off. The side doors closed and the dropship shuddered as the Phantom lifted upward. Having secured its cargo, the Phantom exited the ship and proceeded towards the Omega Space Station.

* * *

_**15 minutes later  
Omega Station  
Afterlife Club  
**_

Afterlife Club. A large Nightclub that's been around for centuries. Divided largely into 3 floors, it's a popular destination for the denizens of Omega, who go there to see the scandalously dressed Asari dancers dance (And often times, strip) around the various poles and tables that dotted the club. Contrary to what most people thought, you are allowed to touch the girls there, even when they're naked, as long as they're okay with it and you don't get too carried away with your touching.

Unfortunately, one Turian got a little carried away with one of the girls and tried to do a little more than touching, not realizing that despite Omega's lawlessness, these dancers were in fact protected. And they're under the protection of the one Asari that you don't want to piss off.

Especially if you're a trade diplomat from Nulero, who aren't welcome on Omega.

* * *

_**Aria's Private Lounge**_

Inside the lounge the sounds of a Turian's anguished cries echoed the room as a half dozen men continued to beat him mercilessly. Punches, kicks, curb stomps, nothing was forbade as long as it wasn't life threatening. She didn't want him to die just yet. A couple dozen other Batarians, Turians, and Asari watched on.

The Asari rose up slightly from her couch to grab a drink and take a sip from it casually, as if nothing was happening.

Setting the drink back down, she spoke up, _"Enough."_

The six Batarian and Turian thugs ceased their beating of the Turian on the ground. The Turian laid sprawled out on the ground, coughing up a small amount of blood. He weakly looked up to the Asari in front of him, his breathing ragged.

The purple colored Asari stood up from the couch and walked towards the prone Turian, his breathing becoming more erratic and panicked with each step the 'woman' took towards him. The Asari knelt in front of him, looking at him with piercing light blue eyes, and spoke.

_"Now, then. Since we've 'soften' you up some, maybe now you'll be a little more cooperative. Now, answer my question. Why the fuck is there a diplomat from Nulero on my station, after I specifically told your leaders that Nulero is no longer welcomed on my station?" _She spoke in a very calm, and very unnerving, voice.

_"I-I swear, I'm not here for anything! I was just here for a-a little entertainment and got carried away, I s-swear it! It won't-"_

_"Shh shh shh sh." _She replied, holding a hand up to stop the diplomat from talking. An awkward silence came between the two for a couple seconds before she resumed, _"I didn't ask for your fucking excuses. I ask you why is there a Nulero diplomat. On. My. Station?" _

The Turian looked like his was about to start pissing himself. He spoke up again, with terror resonating through his voice, _"I swear, I'm not here for anything! I just stopped by looking for a little fun and got carried away, honest!"_

The Asari, to her credit, kept her calm demeanor. Taking in a deep breath, she responded, _"That's the problem. You're not being honest. I've been around for 640 years. I know how to tell when someone is lying. And you are."_

She stood up, eyes narrowing, _"So, here's what we're going to do. I'm gonna have my boys here toss you out of the nearest airlock and watch you suffocate out in space. Maybe that'll teach you so self restraint, especially when you decided to try and fuck my daughter!" _

Finally losing her temper, she step forward and with a roar, proceeded to punch, kick, and brutalize the downed Turian in a display that made everyone of the Mercs in the room squeamish. The Turian's voice fell silent after a while. Finally, after what felt like the longest minute of everyone's life, she stopped her bloodthirsty beating of the Turian, small amounts of Turian blood staining her clothes and sprayed onto her face.

Breathing heavily, she took a step back and wiped some of the blood off her face. She looked down at the Turian beneath her. The Nulero diplomat was lying in a pool of blood and breathing shallowly, probably on the verge of death. _"Toss this piece of shit out the nearest airlock! Let him be a reminder to everyone."_

She turned and went back towards the couch, looking out the window towards the club down below. The sounds of the sobbing Turian could be heard as he was dragged away.

_"Dont. Fuck. With Aria T'Loak." _Aria finished, staring out at the club below her.

* * *

_"I like it. Simple enough rule to remember." _

She turned back around to a surprising site before her, along with every Merc in the room aiming their weapons in the general direction of the voice.

12 Kig-yar stood before her, all armed to the teeth. One Ruutian in particular was ahead of the group, taking a swig from what she assume was their version of a bottle. Finishing his swig, the Kig-yar put the bottle back on his side and looked back at her.

Aria stepped forward, eyes narrowing, _"And give me one reason why I shouldn't have you and your little goon squad gunned down. Because I know for a fact that Golek didn't let you up here, especially your kind and faction."_

_"Hm, who? Oh, the Batarian? Yea, he's dead. Stupid Bastard tried to pull a gun on us and got gunned down by my two boys in the back here." _The Ruutian Kig-yar pointed at the two T'vaoan Kig-yar in the back, who both snarled and hissed at the Mercs around their group. The Ruutian started to chuckle, _"You wouldn't believe how quick these guys are on the draw." _

_"Interesting, don't care. If you came here to take over, then you've got alot of balls and not enough guys to do it."_

_"Well, good thing that's not our job today." _The Ruutian just shrugged, as if nonchalant about the numerous guns being aimed at them.

Aria continued eyeing them for several moments, before relaxing her pose. _"Then, why the fuck are you on my station, bird-boy?"_

_"Business. And the name's Rek, not bird-boy." _Rek replied, slightly irritated by the nickname.

Aria's eyes narrowed even more, _"What kind of business could the Covenant possibly want with me? I thought the Covenant didn't do dealings with Pirates." _

_"Just the ones they know are gonna try and fuck 'em over, like the Blood Packs. Our leaders are pretty confident you won't. Not the deal they apparently came up with for you."_

Aria's curiosity was now starting to get the better of her, but she didn't dare show it. She had more than enough centuries of dealings and negotiations to know better than to let your significant other show any form of weakness or interest. But, still, the Covenant were apparently so confident in this supposed deal of theirs that they didn't think for a second she would refuse.

_"Alright, Rek. What kind of deal are we talking?"_

_"One that will not only benefit you, but also increase your influence and power over the Terminus Systems. A trade agreement and a... mutual cooperation agreement."_

Aria studied the Ruutian in front of her, trying to see if there was any lie in what he was saying. Strangely, she didn't see anything to suggest he was lying. She motioned for her men to lower their weapons, which they did.

_"An agreement, huh? What exactly are you suggesting?" _She spoke, acting mildly interested as she sat back down on the couch and laid back.

Rek motioned to his group, in which they left momentarily, only to return with some 5 large boxes, each laid on what appeared to be some sort of hovercarts. Rek went to the side of one and pressed a couple buttons on the side, which cause the box to open up and reveal it's contents.

To Aria's surprise, she could see two rows of Type-52 Carbines, numbering some 24 total. The Kig-yar opened the other 4 boxes and revealed the same thing. He definitely had Aria's attention now.

Aria was, more or less, surprised by this. They were giving her guns? Not only guns, but Covenant guns. Something the Citadel Council had been dying to get their hands on. She normally had the ability to read a person like a book to tell if they were lying or something, but this Kig-yar looked serious about the guns.

_"Okay, so you're giving me a bunch of guns. So what?" _

_"That's not all. We got several other goodies that we'll be giving you as... incentive to agree to our proposal of a mutual agreement." _

_"Such as?"_

_"The location of a Pirate Base operating in the Omega Nebula that's planning to overthrow you." _This earned a glare from the Asari Pirate Queen.

Rek raised his hands up defensively, _"Don't even bother, we already took care of it. However, it's got a pretty nice little shipyard capable of building 3 or so Cruisers at a time, so you or one of your subordinates could take it over and start building your own private fleet."_

Aria raised an eyebrow at this, _"If that's the case, why haven't your leaders taken over?"_

_"It's considered too far away and too small to waste resources on. The Hierarchs don't want to stretch our Navy too thin, especially on a facility they consider low value. But for someone like you, it could be put to great use, helping to expand your influence and increase your power over the Terminus System Warlords and Pirates." _

Aria was a little skeptic on that. They were just going to hand her over a facility capable of building Warships? Yeah, right. She knew full well what the Covenant were trying to do. They weren't wanting a friend, they were wanting a buffer state between themselves and the Citadel Races. She knew that the Omega Mass Relay was one of the main entry points to the Terminus Systems, which meant it got alot of traffic. Therefore, it would make sense to have someone there to monitor whose going in and out the Relay.

Someone like the Pirate Queen of the Terminus. But if they thought that she was going to be bought out this easily, they were mistaken.

_"Flattering, but you'll have to do a little better than that. I've had enough assholes over the years try to buy me off with weapons and factories."_ She spoke, turning her head back to look down on the club below.

_"How about several new worlds to colonize and govern?" _

This cause her to stop turning and pause. Did she just hear that correctly? She turned back around and looked at the Ruutian Kig-yar.

_"What did you just say?"_

_"You heard right. The Citadel Council just opened up several new Relays a few years back. Well, seeing the success of that little expedition, the Hierarchs have decided to do the same. However, they also decided that they can't just go and open all these relays and just expect everyone in the Terminus to just sit by and let them. So, they figured that they'd negotiate with several of the leading powers in the Terminus and try to see if they could share the spoils." _

The Mercs in the room were now paying full attention to the Ruutian in the center of the room. Aria wouldn't dare show it, but this Kig-yar had peak her interest. This was honestly unexpected by the Covenant, to do something like opening Relays. Many people had believed they were content staying in their little corner of the Terminus. Apparently not.

After pondering this for several moments, Aria finally replied, _"Okay, Rek. What kind of deal are we talking about exactly?"_

* * *

_**Terminus Systems  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
**__**Containment Room deep inside Forerunner Facility orbiting **__**Gas Giant Zulzirk**_

It had gone so long with silence. So long without freedom.

Eons had passed, silently and tormentingly. No-one but itself and those _wretched _machines that kept it prisoner! The damned machines of his people's creations that had rebelled against them had kept it and its children chained, bound, and restrained.

But then, they came.

The... _Salarians._ Yes, the _Salarians _had come, not so long ago. They began exploring the facility, fighting the machines and venturing deep into the Facility. They encounter its children, and had foolishly opened the prisons of its children, unleashing them and they themselves becoming food for its children.

Now, its children were here, trying to free it from its imprisonment. The last of the Stasis Generators were almost down. Soon, it would be free.

Soon, it could complete its mission, and ensure the Mantle was obtained by the chosen ones.

_"Soon. Soon, we will end this wretched cycle that has plagued this Galaxy. And the Mantle will be restored to its Inheritors."_

The last Stasis Generator went offline, and for the first time in eons, it moved its limbs, flexing and stretching them out and about, before returning them to their normal positions. The 15-meter tall being stepped out of its prison, looking down at the mass of beings standing before it. Its children looked up at their creator, all of their twisted and mutated faces looking up, as if waiting for some command.

A great rumbling sound erupted from it. And, as if on que, the deformed beings before it set about across the facility, their tasks informed by their creator, not by words, but by the union of their consciences.

Capture. Convert. Expand.

_Feed._

It wasn't long before the giant was alone once more, silence echoing across the vast room. It began to ponder how exactly it would exit the room and leave this facility. It noticed, however, that the ventilation system above its prison would be large enough for it to fit through, albeit it would have to compact its physical form some in order to fit through. Nevertheless, its escape was assured as long as there was a spacecraft outside, which it was certain it was.

* * *

_"This way! Hurry! Quick!" _

It heard voices behind it. It turned around to see several Salarians running into the room, completely unaware of its presence. Their attention was entirely on the door they had just entered through. They fired their weapons through the door at several of his children, who were pursuing them and attempting to feed.

_"Get that fucking door close, now!" _

_"Oh shit! We're gonna die!" _

_"Hurry! They're almost on us!" _

_"I got it! I got it!"_

* * *

The door closed, preventing its children from feasting on the Salarians. Their anguished cries could be heard through the doors, angered at the fact their prey escaped. Everyone of the 14 Salarians breathed a collective sigh of relief. They had survived, for now.

The large being continue to observe the amphibians, unmoving and completely still. It debated on whether it should just let its children feast on them, but it decided it could use them for another purpose. Its escape.

_"So... you have survived my children... only to face another incarnation of your doom."_

The sudden deep and resonating voice got the attention of the Salarians who trained all of their weapons to the source of the voice. Their jaws collectively dropped when they saw the massive being towering over them. The large and grotesque being before was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

Nevertheless, they kept their weapons trained on the creature.

_"However, you are in luck... I will need assistance in leaving this place. And you will provide it for me." _

_"And why the hell would we do that?! You said those... things were your children. Why would we help the thing that created those monsters?" _An STG Sergeant spoke up.

With incredible speed, that seemed impossible for a creature its size, the being snatched up the Sergeant with its hands and brought him before its eight glowing eyes, looking directly into the Salarian's own eyes. Fear and pure terror ran through the Salarian's body. The being spoke.

_"Because... you have no choice."_

_"W-What the hell are you?!" _The terrified Salarian screamed out.

_"I? I... am among the last... the last of a mighty race who brought life to this Galaxy long ago. I... am among the last of a race... who sowed the very seeds of your species ascendance. I... am... Precursor..." _

The Precursor's glowing amber eyes turned a bright green, and an unnerving sensation coursed through the bodies of the Salarians, who all collapsed in pure anguish to the floor save for the ensnared Sergeant.

_"Now... open your minds... and see the truth... of a billion generations." _

The screams of the STG operatives filled the room, echoing across.

But none of the Flood Forms in the room, who had broken in long before, paid any mind to it.

They merely watched on as their maker went about his task, ensuring its mission would be completed in due time.

_"Now... I am Legion."_

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter. This chapter is actually one of two parts. However, I'm not gonna say much about the next chapter, gonna leave that for you to speculate on. All I'm gonna say is, shit's gonna go down. **

**Also, sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. I've been suffering from some severe Writer's Block lately and idk why honestly. That, and some family issues at home took priority and I had to get it taken care of. But, I've got that all sorted out and I'll hopefully have the next chapter out within a couple months. **

**I also have some exciting news. **

**First off, I've decided that I'm going to make this story into a 3 Book Series. When will the next book come out you ask? When this one is done and when I'm ready. (:P)**

**Second, I also want to announce I might be working on a new project in the near future. Nothing guaranteed yet, but it's looking hopeful. Won't be seeing anything of it for a while, though. Would love to hear some suggestions as to what I should try writing next. PM me your thoughts if you have a suggestion. **

**Also, make sure you leave me feedback as to how my story's coming along. This stuff actually means alot to writers guys, especially all the reviews I've been getting, both good and bad. [Thanks, btw :)] For me, all that does is shows me where I'm doing good in, and where I need to make improvements.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time!**


	7. Revelations 2

**Hey, Guys! Azores here, and I am back with another chapter of Halo-Mass Effect. For those of you who are unaware I was gone for a couple weeks in June due to my job in the Army National Guard, which set back all of my work by at least a month. But, now I've gotten this chapter up and running and should be back on schedule with my work. Hope you enjoy!**

** I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**_07.23.2122  
Apien Crest  
Trebia System  
Palaven_**

Palaven, homeworld of the Turian People. With a population of 6.1 Billion, it's also the most heavily defended planet in the known galaxy. With 500 warships, including 15 Dreadnoughts, and numerous planetary orbital guns stationed on the planet and one of it's two moons, Menae, anyone would be hardpress and foolish to try and take on the homeworld of the most powerful military in the galaxy.

That, however, was before the Covenant made their presence known to the Galaxy.

Ever since that fateful war, the Citadel Races as a whole have been spending numerous amounts of credits and resources trying to develop weapons and armaments to counter the Covenant's superior armor and shielding. Unfortunately, they only had a handful of examples, some infantry weapons picked up during the Fall of Lorek, to study and base their research on. Every planet the Covenant had land troops on the ground on during their war with the Batarians had been glassed, leaving very little evidence of any civilization being there.

The Citadel was at massive disadvantage now, but hopefully that was about to change.

* * *

_**Cipritine  
Capital of Palaven  
**_

In the vast and enormous city that was the capital and crown jewel of the Hierarchy, a meeting was taking place between the most powerful officials in the Hierarchy in the Hierarch Chambers, discussing what was to be done about the growing Covenant threat. Generals, Admirals, and Politicians alike were arguing back and forth their points.

* * *

_"We must strike now while the Covenant are still building, not when they return to the offensive. It's only a matter of time before they drag everyone into a galactic war not seen since the Krogan Rebellions!"_

_"Yes, we must strike while we still hold the advantage over them!"_

_"Are you mad?! We can't be responsible for dragging the galaxy into another Krogan Rebellions."_

_"If we allow them to build up their strength they'll do it for us!"_

_"We can't just simply attack them without justification. The Citadel Council would never stand for it." _

_"The Council are a bunch of babbling, spineless cowards, too unwilling to do what is necessary for the greater good."_

This last voice stopped the arguing and brought everyone's attention to the 2nd level of the Chambers, to an aged Turian Grand Admiral in particular, who was still seated and sipping on some expensive wine as he watched the events unfold. Everyone in this room knew who this man was, many feared him, other loved him. He's considered one of the greatest military minds the Turian Hierarchy had ever produced. He was also among the most infamous.

Grand Admiral Maximus Bruttanius.

* * *

Bruttanius was a man of immense military background. Joining the Hierarchy Navy after finishing his mandatory training, he was stationed on board several different Cruisers before getting command of his own Cruiser at age 38. At age 44, after dozens of successful engagements against enemy pirates and slavers, he received command of his own Patrol Fleet, the 35th Patrol Fleet, consisting of 5 Cruisers and 7 Frigates. With this Patrol Fleet, he became the scourge of every Pirate and Slaver within the Terminus Systems. He was known for inflicting maximum damage, while coming out with minimal casualties on his end.

Unfortunately, there's a reason many people loathe him as well. Not due to his ability to win battles like no other, but the fact that he was a Turian Supremacist. He believed full heartedly that Turians were the best race in the galaxy. So many things would not have been possible if it wasn't for the Hierarchy, such as the Krogan Rebellions, or the halting of the Geth's advance after wiping out the Quarians.

One particular incident was where in a covert operation to acquire critical information on the Geth, Bruttanius sacrificed a platoon of STG Operatives and 2 Asari Spectres in order to save the lives of some 20 Turian Spec Ops that were involved with the mission. The mission cost Bruttanius his field commission, and forced him to be assigned at a desk job, being given the rank of Grand Admiral to shut him up.

Needless to say, Bruttanius wasn't pleased about how the incident had played out. And now, at age 95, he was here, talking politics of all things. Though what none of the other Turian Officials knew what that he had already enacted his plans to put himself in a seat of strength once more. Soon, he was going to be in charge of the Turian Hierarchy.

* * *

_"Grand Admiral Bruttanius. I must admit I'm surprised to see you here today." _One of his fellow Admirals, Admiral Fedorian spoke up.

_"I'm always willing to make some time to watch you make an ass out of yourself, Fedorian." _The smirking reply earned a few chuckles and laughs out of the audience gathered, much to Admiral Fedorian's annoyance. He knew, however, that Bruttanius meant nothing ill by it. This man had been his tutor, and friend, for a long time.

_"Well, I'm sure that's not the only reason you're here today, along with just listening to us bicker amongst ourselves. By all means, what do you propose, Grand Admiral?"_

_"It's very simple, really." _The aged Turian spoke, standing for the first time since he got here. He took one look around the room, making sure he had everyone's undivided attention, before saying what he came here to.

_"We capture a Covenant warship and reverse-engineer it." _

Almost immediately murmurs spread across the room. Capture a Covenant warship? Has he gone mad?

_"And how exactly do you propose we do that?"_

Bruttanius smiled, _"Because I've already set the plans in motion. By the week's end, the Hierarchy will have a Covenant warship to study and reverse-engineer to their hearts content."_

The Citadel would soon have everything they knew changed once more, in time.

* * *

_**07.31.2122  
Terminus Systems  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
Inside Forerunner**_**_ Facility orbiting _**_**Gas Giant Zulzirk**_

Inside the ancient facility, Covenant and Citadel forces slugged it out for dominance all over the site.

General Kolre Uzinaree snarled as he gunned down a couple STG Operatives before him with his Type-51 Plasma Repeater. With the last of the SGT vanquished, he took some time to survey the room they were. Bodies laid strewed out all over the room, both Sangheili and Salarian. The fighting had been fierce and many had died in the battle for the holy site. Outside of a window in the surrounding orbit, he could see the Covenant and Citadel Ships slugging it out with one another, attempting to gain supremacy over the other.

He looked back to his surviving Cohort, numbering some 21 total out of a once 60 strong group. The fighting had taken its toll on his forces. After some 4 hours of combat, Kolre was down to about 65% of his original Spec Ops force. While unfortunate, it did reveal some very key information to them.

The Citadel Races had upgraded their weapons.

* * *

In all likelihood, they merely just modified their weapons to fire a larger round, resulting in them dealing more damage, but causing them to overheat faster. Despite the tradeoff, it was just enough to slightly level the playing field. Hence why they had so many casualties now.

And from the reports he's been receiving, the Quarians haven't faired any better. Only the Krogan were doing well without suffering massive casualties, and that was largely due to their redundant nervous systems.

* * *

Kolre motioned for his men to push forward, aiming their weapons down the hallway as they pushed up. They came up on a door that the SGT were trying to keep them from entering. They gathered around the door and prepared to breach through. Kolre motioned for a Sangheili Major to open the door.

The door came open, and the Sangheili came bursting through. Korle and the rest of the Spec Ops group slowly paused as they observed the room before them.

The room they found themselves in was fairly large, with multiple stations and terminals set up around the room. Numerous cables and cords lay stretched out around the room as well, connecting to the various stations and terminals. There wasn't a single living soul inside save for them. The STG had fled before their arrival.

Korle snorted, _"It appears we've found their Command Center." _He looked towards his warriors, _"Stay alert! They could be waiting to ambush us." _

The Sangheili spread out across the room, scanning every corner for any signs of their foe. Their numbers had been diminished enough as it was, the last they needed was a squad of STG popping up randomly and killing a quarter of their warriors. Kolre comms suddenly began to speak.

_'General Uzinaree, come in.'_

_'Speak.'_

_'This is Lt Zeetor'Feezu of Leerik Company. I'm on route to your position with what's left of my platoon.'_

_'Understood, Lt. How have your men faired?'_

_'...Not too well. I'm down to 120 out of my original 200 strong Company, but we've made the bastards pay for it.'_

_'Understood, let us know when you are entering, so that we know to hold our fire.'_

_'Yes, sir. Leerik Company, out.'_

With that, Kolre walked up to one of the STG terminals, inspecting the strange contraption. It was similar in shape as to what the Covenant used, but the colors and size were far different. He tried accessing one, but nothing came from the effort and he decided to leave it for the Quarians to fool with. This was more their area of expertise.

For now, they would focus on the fiends that plagued this station.

* * *

**_07.26.2122_**  
**_Omega Nebula  
Fathar System  
Lorek  
Forerunner Archival Site  
_**

_"BASTARD! How dare he just ups and leaves us like that! Especially for a chance to kill some Salarians! When I get my hands on that little Pyjak, I swear he'll have his head plate hanging out his ass!" _Came the grips of one of one very angry Warlord Okeer Lugok. Why was he angry? Basically he got cheated out of the chance to go kill some STG goons by one Urdnot Wrex, who was kind enough to headbutt Okeer out of the Phantom.

From 20 feet in the air, laughing all the while as Okeer fell and plopped to the snowy ground below.

Needless to say, Okeer was and had been in a very foul mood ever since, and having nothing to vent his frustration out due to the Covenant putting restrictions on what and where the Krogan could do 'recreational' activities. And the last thing he was wanting to hear was the Split-lips raging at him because he punch the wall of the 'holy' site or shot off a few rounds from his shotgun. So, he's resorted to ranting and cursing Urdnot Wrex's name.

At least, until Wrex gets back.

_"Doctor Okeer, I need your assistance cataloging the data in the Archive room." _Jani'Rallen suddenly spoke through his Omni-tool, taking the Krogan's mind off plotting homicide.

_"I'll be down there in a minute." _He growled back, and proceeded down the hallway towards the Archive, which was now being referred to by the Sangheili as the 'Silent Cartographer'. Whatever the hell that means.

* * *

Krogan Scientists were something unheard by... well, anyone. But, surprisingly, they do exist. The problem, though, is that most of them are experts in areas such as Weapons R&amp;D. Okeer, while he did have expertise in that area, also had expertise in another area that could be key to the Krogan's survival. Biomedical/Biogenetic Engineering. He had nearly five and a half centuries of expertise in this field.

Unfortunately, he wasn't popular amongst fellow Krogan due to some... experiments he conducted on his fellow Krogans, in a attempt to find a cure for the Genophage. This lead to him becoming shunned by his fellow Krogan and forced him off Tuchanka all together. From there, he spent three centuries traveling from colony to colony, trying to continue his research on the Genophage and a possible cure, or solution at least. Unsurprisingly, there were few people who were willing to help, and none willing to finance him.

Then, in 2112, something remarkable happened. He was approached by the Covenant and offered the deal of a lifetime, in return for his services. Full financing and support for his research, provided that he assist the Covenant in understanding Mass Effect technology and helping design new weapons systems, primarily for the Quarians. So far, his research hadn't come up with very significant results, but it was a start to the creation of a cure. And then, the Krogan would be able to return to prominence.

They needed to do it fast, though. Out of a population that once numbered 36 billion at the start of the Krogan Rebellions, there are less than 5 billion Krogan left in the Galaxy, with nearly half of them living on Tuchanka's scarred lifeless surface. And they weren't getting any stronger.

* * *

Okeer entered the 'Silent Cartographer', where some two dozen Quarians were collecting and trying to translate and catalog as much of the data as possible, while several Lances of Sangheili were standing guard, a few muttering words of prayer at their 'gift' that their gods bestowed upon them.

It was a very straining process. The Forerunner glyphs and symbols were something the Quarians had never seen before hand, and their most advance VI programs, even working together, were having trouble translating the vast amounts of data and transferring it over to the Omni-tool and Terminals set up in the room.

_"Doctor Rallen, what do you need from me?" _

The Quarian turned to her co-worker and spoke, _"I need your help in trying to find a way to catalog all this information faster. Everything we're trying, even with using some dozen VIs to help, the VIs estimate that it will take several days to upwards of a week to finish translating and downloading all the data."_

_"How much has been successfully translated and downloaded to our drives?"_

_"About 12% since we started 2 days ago. High Command, however, is wanting us to get done as soon as possible and bring the information back to Virmire."_

Okeer snorted at this. Of course they were wanting to rush it. He couldn't even count how many Warlords and Pirate bands were nearby. Luckily, none of them were ballsy enough to dare attack a Covenant position. The Terminus System learned very early on what happened when you antagonized the Covenant.

* * *

That didn't mean the same, however, for the Citadel Races. The Turians, especially, were always looking for some way to get their hands on Covenant Technology. Okeer had no doubt in his mind that if presented the chance, the Turians would strike. And right now, they had a completely perfect chance to do it. With only 1 light warship in orbit, this encampment was extremely vulnerable. While a reinforcing fleet of 10 warships was on the way, they wouldn't be here for another 2 days, meaning they were extremely vulnerable to attack. All Okeer could do, though, was hope the Turians hadn't caught wind of their sudden weakness.

* * *

_"Don't tell me you're trying to download everything at once?" _

_"Wha... of course we are. Why wouldn't we?"_

Okeer sighed. Children these days. If only they would stop and use their heads a little more. _"Because you're overwhelming the VI programs by ordering them to download an Archive that has at least hundreds of Yottabytes of information. This will go quicker if you focused on specific regions of the Galaxy, such as the Covenant and surrounding territory, along with the location of every one of these 'Forerunner' sites. This is all the Hierarchs are after anyway." _He pondered something for a moment, before speaking up again, _"Well... that and the Citadel Council's key Garden Worlds."_

As much as she didn't want to admit, but the Krogan was right. In truth, this was all the Covenant leadership was after. Plus it would be quicker if they were focusing on specific areas of the Galaxy. Rallen honestly never thought she would see the day a Krogan had corrected her. Then again, she never thought she would see a Krogan Scientist. Sometimes, she wondered how in the world she had ever gotten as far as she had. Then again, it probably helps that her father is the Quarian Hierarch.

She typed in the new commands into her Omni-tool, ordering the VIs to change their cataloging parameters. After the orders were confirmed, she looked and saw the new estimated time for the data to be completed.

_"The VIs are saying that the time it will take to catalog Covenant Territory and the surrounding space, along with the locations of all the Forerunner sites, will take about 4 hours." _

Okeer smirked at this, relishing in his little victory, along with the fact it was taking his mind off a certain irritating Battlemaster, and replied, _"Good, let me know when it's finished. I'm going back up top for a drink." _

And with that, Okeer left the Quarian and the Silent Cartographer, and proceeded to head back up towards the outside. He knew a few of his fellow Krogan were topside standing guard, maybe he could get one to have a 'friendly spar' with him.

* * *

**80,783,217 km from Fathar  
Dark Side of Dorgal**

On the other side of the Fathar System, a large fleet was gathered with one goal in mind. To take out the Covenant Encampment at Lorek. There were some 20 Batarian pirate ships of various caliber, ranging from nimble Corvettes to a couple Light Cruisers. All of which had received various modifications and upgrades. And now they were going to test out their upgrades, as well as get some vengeance, on the Covenant. Their employer was paying a massive paycheck to complete this little assignment, so they were taking no chances and had brought all the heavy firepower they could muster.

That wasn't to say they would be alone in this little attack.

Behind them, was a Turian Battlegroup of 32 ships, with 2 dreadnoughts and 30 Cruisers. Bruttanius didn't want to leave anything to chance, so he had ordered the Fleet to have no Frigates in it whatsoever. They simply just didn't have the punch needed to take down even the smallest Covenant Warships, save for maybe the Corvettes. The only speed they needed over the Covenant was rate of fire, which they already had over them. What they needed was firepower over the Covenant. And now, with the sudden vanishing of the majority of the enemy fleet in orbit over Lorek, they now had a perfect opportunity to strike.

Their mission was a rather simple but difficult one. Destroy the Covenant site on the ground, capturing as much Covenant Weaponry and Equipment as possible, and capture a Covenant Warship to bring back to the Hierarchy. With the captured warship, they could reverse engineer the ship and give the Turians, and the Citadel Races, a massive technological edge over the rest of the Galaxy.

To put it simply, failure wasn't an option. The orders had been recieved from Bruttanius, proceed with the mission. Now, the next 12 hours were going to change history for the better or worst of the Galaxy.

* * *

**_07.31.2122_**  
**_Terminus Systems  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
Inside Forerunner Facility orbiting Gas Giant Zulzirk_**

Kolre gave a low growl of annoyance, the Quarians were hacking the STG terminals in hopes of finding out more information about the site and the possible Oracle that may be here. But everyone of the terminals were blank, clear of any data. It had become very clear to Kolre that the Salarians had purged every bit of data in the command base to keep it from the Covenant. Probably an act of defiance due to their crumbling defenses.

_"Damn Bosh'tets! There's nothing!" _Lt Feezu spoke, throwing his hand up in frustration, _"They wiped the terminals before we got here."_

_"Is there anyway to retrieve it or learn if the data was sent somewhere?" _Kolre asked.

_"Doubtful. Plus it would take time we don't have. They more than likely have the data on the Omni-tool of the STG's Commanding Officer if they haven't sent it off site yet." _

_'You won't need to bother yourselves with that, you won't be leaving here alive anyhow.' _

All their attention was turned to a holograph display that had suddenly turned on. It presented the image of a Salarian STG Captain looking directly at them. Kolre sneered at the amphibian before him. This must be their commander.

_'Ah. Kolre Uzinaree. A rather infamous Sangheili commander. We have quite the Dossier on you. I look forward to presenting your corpse to my Superiors, should give me a nice big promotion since there's a 'kill-on-sight' order for you.' _He gave a rather smug smile.

Kolre snorted, _"As if you actually had the courage to try. Come out of hiding so we may kill you."_

_'Ha. Get in line, split-lip. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to. Do me a favor and try not to riddled with too many bullet holes. Need to look a little bit presentable to the Dalatrass.'_

And with that, the hologram dissipated, just in time for several doors to open and have several STG squads storming into the room, opening fire on the Covenant soldiers.

* * *

The Covenant troops took cover wherever they could and returned fire on the attacking and advancing Salarians. Kolre fire several rounds from his Carbine and dropped a trio of STG soldiers, before ducking back into cover as Mass-Effect powered bullets slammed into his cover. Several Covenant soldiers hadn't been so lucky. 2 Sangheili and a half dozen Quarians lay dead.

A Sangheili Spec-Ops Officer primed a Plasma Grenade and tossed it at a group of Salarians in cover. The grenade exploded, sending the mangled bodies of 4 STG Operatives flying. An STG Operative opened fire with a rocket launcher, sending a rocket right into the mist of 6 Quarian Marines. 4 were killed instantly, 2 unlucky Marines were sent flying, one of them missing a leg, the other an arm. They landed on the floor and started screaming bloody murder as they both grasped their now severed body parts.

Kolre swapped to his Plasma Repeater and laid down a volley of suppressive fire as a couple Marines grabbed their wounded compatriots and dragged them into cover. Kolre continued to fire on the pinned Salarians as he shouted out, _"Flank them and flush them out of their hiding!"_

6 Sangheili moved around to the right and immediately began to work their way around the Salarians in order to get the drop on them. With any luck, they could push on without too many casualties, and continue their hunt for the Oracle and the fiend STG Captain.

* * *

431 Desolate Repent was very displeased. Quite so. Not only had the Salarians completely disregard his warnings, they also completely disregarded protocol and unleashed the Flood. And to make it worse, the Flood and in turn freed the Precursor from its prison. Completely unacceptable.

He floated past several Sentinels that flew past him, preparing to go deal with the Flood that had sprung up in another sector of the Facility. Unfortunately, there were simply too few Sentinels left to stem the infestation. The Flood had simply grown too numerous too quickly, and the Salarians were too busy fighting the newcomers to be concern with containing the Flood. They sealed off any sections they could to keep the Parasite from consuming them and while that would hold them for a while, it would not last forever. Sooner or later, the Flood would break out.

He sighed, knowing there was in truth only one option left. He would have to destroy the Facility. The best course of action would be to send the Facility spiraling into the gas giant it orbited, the immense pressure at the core would kill anything still aboard. But, due to protocol, he is unable to do it himself, and he isn't even going to bother asking the Salarians for any help.

This turned his attention to the newcomers that had arrived and started fighting the Salarians. One species he recognized from the Salarian databanks as Quarians, but the other were brand new. They were catalogued in the Salarian databanks as well, but the name Sangheili struck him for some reason. It sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it at the moment.

Nevertheless, he needed to get into contact with him and see if he could enlist their assistance.

* * *

_"Watch it! There's more drones in here!" _

_"Take them out!"_

He spun around, his glowing orange 'eye' staring down the hallway he had just come from. The sounds of gunfire and beam weapons echoing in the halls. The Salarians were here.

_"Oh dear. This is most unacceptable."_

He spun back around and flew down towards the room he was heading for. He needed to contact the newcomers now and enlist their aid, or the whole Galaxy could be doomed.

He entered the room, where some half dozen Sentinels had just entered the room. The moment they were in the room, they had already received the orders from Repent to defend the room. He already knew the Salarians were moving in. They had been in this room beforehand, as to explain the existence of the two Salarian Terminals in the room. What he wasn't sure of was whether or not they would try to kill him. apparently, these backwards people thought AIs were evil due to one bad experience.

_"Sir! In here! The AI is in here!"_

_"Good! Capture it! I want it alive for study." _

The STG began storming the room, the Sentinels in return open fire on the invading aliens.

* * *

Several STG Operatives were struck by the Sentinel beams, killed instantly as the beams were simply too powerful for the kinetic barriers to withstand, and the STG's armor didn't fair much better. The STG returned fire on the floating machines, spewing massive amounts of fire down onto the advance combat drones. The STG had learned early on that the drones were vulnerable to an overload attack, which would short-circuit their shielding for a small time, allowing them to deal damage to the bodies of the machines.

Several STG did just this as several overloads went out and struck 4 of the Sentinels, zapping away their shielding for a small amount of time. It was all they needed as the STG concentrated their fire on the vulnerable machines, cutting them down and making short work of them with heavy weapons.

Desolate Repent decided to enter the fight and opened fire with his more powerful Sentinel Beam, a solid red beam that killed 5 STG Operatives instantly, while the rest scurried into cover.

The Salarians continued to fire their weapons at the Sentinels, while the combat drones continued to fire away at any STG Operative they saw. Desolate decided to end this fight now in order to focus on the more severe matter at hand. Tapping into the STG's combat suits via their Omni-tools, he hacked into their system setting and forced the armor systems to go into lockdown.

The results were somewhat comical. Several of the STG were in the process of moving, but when their armor locked up, many of them simple fell over in place, while others, who were in cover, remained stuck where they were, including one very angry STG Captain Bedorm Pudrok.

The fight was over, and Desolate Repent now had some 14 STG soldiers at his mercy. He floated over to the STG Captain, who angrily shouted at him and demanded to be set free immediately.

Repent loomed over the Captain, glaring at his with his glowing orange eye.

_"You imbecile! You do even comprehend what you have done?! Not only have you and your soldiers violate hundreds of protocols, but now you may have very well doomed the Galaxy by unleashing the Flood! Completely unacceptable! Now I have no choice but to-"_

His rant was cut short when he was suddenly stuck by several Overload attacks from behind. The two remaining Sentinels turned to face the attackers, but were cut down by the collective fire of 20 STG Operatives storming the room.

With a pained yell, Desolate Repent collapsed to the floor, rolling slightly before coming to a complete stop. His orange light was blinking slowly as the STG Operatives either closed in on the Monitor or helped their downed comrades. Bedorm Pudrok rose to his feet with the help of one of his Operatives, and walked over to the vulnerable Monitor, studying it in great detail.

* * *

When they had first learned of the AI's existence, Bedorm was originally going to have it destroyed. But now, things had changed. After seeing its capabilities first hand, he was convinced that the AI could be incredibly useful to the Salarian Union. His mind was already pondering the secrets they could unlock from its databanks.

It didn't matter if the AI was extremely dangerous, they had to bring it home.

_"Sergeant, secure that AI for transport. We're taking it with us."_

Over half of the STG in the room looked at him as if he had grown a second head. _"What?! Sir, that thing is extremely dangerous."_

_"I'm aware. We'll take extra precautions, and besides," _He glanced at the silent Monitor, _"After the shock it just recieved, I doubt it's going to be too much of a threat for a considerable amount of time. Now, get it prepped for transport."_

Several of the STG Operatives glanced at one another hesitantly, unsure of the order. This could get the entirety of the STG in deep waters if the other Council Races found out. Nevertheless, they complied with the order of their superior Officer. A trio of STG Operatives moved in and grabbed hold of the downed Monitor, whose dimmed orange light continued to blink slowly.

All the Forerunner AI could do now, was hope someone would destroy this station, before the Flood escaped its confines.

* * *

_'WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY ALL COMING FROM?!' _

_'THEY JUST GOT THE LT!' _

_'GAHHHH!'_

_'GODS, THEY JUST RIPPED HIM APART!'_

_'FIRE, DAMMIT! FIRE!'_

_'I JUST SHOT ONE'S HEAD OFF! HOW THE HELL IS IT STILL ALIVE?!_

_'THERE'S TOO MANY OF THEM!'_

_'HELP MEEE!' _

_'GET IT OFF ME! OH GODS, GET IT OUT OF MEEE!'_

* * *

He ran down the hallway as fast as his aching legs would let him. His body ached, every muscle was on fire. His breath was ragged. He could hear the screams of what was once his squad further behind him in the hallway. He turned his Heavy Pistol over his shoulder and blind fired several times, doubting he hit anything, but he didn't dare turn around. Senior Dragoon Pelop Nerlan continued running, trying his best to tune out the... gods, he couldn't even call them animalistic screams.

It didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was running, surviving. If he could make it to the next room, he could escape. He knew that the STG had set up a couple terminals in that room to help in controlling the doors. It wouldn't keep... _them _out forever, but it would buy him a few precious minutes to escape. He had to get up to the main levels, warn the rest of the STG what's going on down here.

And warn them of what just wiped out 8th Battalion.

* * *

He was close to the door, now. Maybe another 100 feet, and he could close it. The shrieks of the abominations were getting louder. They were closing in. He somehow found the strength to run even faster, despite his muscles' protest. His breathing began to quicken, become more panicked. He had to get out of here. He had to escape. That's all he wanted to do. Screw this. Screw the Captain. Screw everything about this damn place.

The shrieks of the horrors behind were even louder. They were almost upon him, but he was going to make it. He was nearly at the door. He would live.

It was at that moment, though, that the door suddenly shut.

He screamed as he reached the door, beating his hands on the door for whoever to open it back up. He looked through the small window of the door, trying to see who had closed it. Then he saw who had closed it.

He looked directly into the face of his Commanding Officer, Bedorm Pudrok. He could see several STG Operatives running about the room. But why? Why had he closed the door?!

_"CAPTAIN! OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE!" _Pelop banged on the door repeatedly.

The Captain stared at him, before leaning over slightly after hearing the shrieks behind the Dragoon. The terrified soldier turned around, only to see none of the abominations behind him, but their shrieks and wails still echoed the hallways, along with the occasional scream of a hapless STG Operative over the comms. If they were gone for now, that meant he still had a chance to live.

He turned back to the Captain, _"CAPTAIN, PLEASE! They're gone for now, but they'll come back! Please, open the damn door!"_

Captain Pudrok, however didn't move. He simply replied, _"Where's the rest of your platoon?"_

Was he serious right now?! _"What?! They're all dead! Everyone's dead! And we will be too if we don't get the hell off this station." _They didn't have time for this. They needed to be evacuating right now, not playing 20 questions.

Pudrok, however, was strangely calm, despite the ever increasing peril they were getting in with each waking second. He calmly replied once more, _"What do you mean everyone's dead? I sent down some 300 soldiers to secure that area."_

_"I-I-I-I don't know what they are! Some kind of Par-Parasite! They swarmed us and tore right through us! We have to get out of here! Now, please open the door!"_

_"I'm afraid I can't do that, soldier."_

Pelop went pale in the face. He then heard the sick slithering sounds of them crawling around. They were back for their food.

The Captain, to his credit, actually looked sadden by his words, _"If I open this door, then I'll condemn every soldier in here to death. I can't do that, not for one soldier."_

_"PLEASE! NO! DON'T DO THIS!" _Pelop banged on the door repeatedly, furiously. The slithering was getting louder behind him.

_"I'm sorry, Dragoon. I know what you're feeling towards me right now. But this is the only logical solution. I'll pray that you'll receive a quick death." _And with that, Captain Bedorm Pudrok turned and walked away from the door, signalling his men to move out.

* * *

_"YOU BASTARD!" _Pelop was hysterical at this point. He was going to die. That bastard had left him to die!

He suddenly heard the slithering sound once more, this time right behind him. He froze. Then, he began to whimper, knowing what it was. He turned his head around slowly, not wanting to see what he knew was behind him. He completed the turn and came face to face with a dozen Flood Infection Forms, as well as three grotesque-looking Combat Forms, their mangled and deformed bodies still showing details of their Salarians host, the heads bent back at unnatural angles, each adorned with a look of pure anguish and horror.

The sounds of squished and rotten flesh, and the scampering of the Infection Forms echoed the hallway as they closed in on their prey.

* * *

Pelop now understood that there was no way out. They would kill him, and then turn him into another one of their twisted horrors. For him, there was only one way out. He slowly raised his Heavy Pistol up to the side of his head. In a way, he was somewhat at peace. He wouldn't have to feel the agonizing pain of being converted into one of these monsters. He would soon be joining his brothers and sisters in the afterlife, and no longer have to worry of mortal pains.

He closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable bullet to ring out as he pulled the trigger.

* * *

_Click._

He opened his eyes back up in horror. He looked at the gun once more, then tried again.

_Click. Click. Clickclickclick. _

_"No. No, no, nononono." _He desperately tried to get the gun to fire, only to recieve the same dreadful answer every time.

_The gun was out of Heat Sinks. _

He slowly looked back up at the horde of monsters, who had now surrounded him and stared at him, their hideous gurgles echoing. With an loud whimper, Pelop stared aimlessly at the horde, fear overwhelming him as the Infection Forms closed in. He did his best to mutter a prayer of his people, but broke down into sobs. There would be no peaceful ending for Pelop. His nightmare has only just begun.

* * *

With a shriek, one of the Infection Forms leaped forward, directly at Pelop. He tried to swat it away, but missed. The creature immediately latched onto his chest, and dug its tentacle-like limbs into his chest. Pelop fell back as the Flood form dug into his flesh, the pain indescribable. A couple other Infection Forms lunged as well, latching onto different parts of his body. The first one, however, began to tear away at his flesh, digging itself deeper and deeper into his chest cavity, trying to access his spinal cord and his nervous system.

As his nightmare panned out, he did the only thing left he could do. He screamed. Screamed at the top of his lungs as his living hell began.

* * *

Urdnot Wrex kicked the body of an STG Operative, making sure he was dead, as he scanned the room with his Claymore Shotgun. The rest of his company had fared rather well against the STG. So far, he's only lost 7 Krogan to the Salarians. But something was off. He could sense it in the air. There was this sensation he was having in the back of his mind. And he always trusted his instincts.

There was something wrong with this place.

_"Spread out and stay alert! Keep an eye out. The Frogs love to set up ambushes." _

The Krogan spread out across the halls and rooms, making sure not to bunch up incase there were booby traps waiting for them. Wrex, on the other hand, was still being nagged by this bad feeling he was having. He entered one room, gave it a methodical sweep, and then moved towards the other side of the room, towards a door in particular. That bad feeling of his almost immediately intensified. Several Krogan gathered around him, all of them training their weapons at the door.

Wrex noticed that several of them looked a little uneasy as well. Good to know he wasn't the only one with that bad feeling.

_"Anyone else getting that vibe saying 'don't open this door'?" _One of the Krogan suddenly spoke up.

_"Yeah, everyone's got it. Doesn't matter, though. This is where one of their command centers are. And we've got to go in and capture it." _He took a look around his fellow Krogan, then spoke again, _"Alright. Get ready to breach." _

The Krogan lined up against the wall on either side of the door. Wrex was in front, swapping out his Shotgun for his Type-25 Plasma Rifle. He took a glance at the door, before looking at the Krogan across from him.

With a silent nod, Wrex simply spoke, _"GO!" _And several Krogan stormed into the room as the door opened. What they were greeted by, wasn't what they were expecting.

_"What the..." _

_"Whoa..."_

Several Krogan whispered amongst themselves as they surveyed the carnage before them. This was a Command Center, alright. The problem was, someone had devastated and ravaged it before the Krogan could. The room looked like something out of a nightmare movie. Terminals and machines were destroyed. Blood, guts, and body parts laid strewed everywhere, painting the room in a slight greenish color signature to the Salarians' blood type.

The carnage they saw before them looked reminiscent of something from the Rachni War.

_"By Kalros," _Wrex said quietly, lowering his weapon as he took in the horrendous sight before him, _"What the hell did this?"_

* * *

**Hi, Guys! How's it hanging? Azores is back in action! Now, I know you're probably wondering why the short chapter. Well, this is actually the first half of the Revelations #2 Chapter, the other half I'm working on right now. **

**I want to take some time to thank you guys for your patience and support. It's been a rather hellish month and a half, but now I'm back to write some more stories, and I'll be shipping them out for your entertainment! I look forward to continue entertaining you guys with my stories that I have planned. **

**See you guys soon. **

**-Azores**


	8. Of Monsters and Men

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**_07.27.2122  
_****_Local Cluster  
_****_Sol System  
_****_Armstrong City, Luna  
_**

Armstrong City. Humanity's first interplanetary colony. Established in 2069 in the Barringer Crater of the Apollo Plain, the architecture of the now sprawling city of 9 million has become one of awe, showing Humanity's capabilities to overcome the seemingly impossible.

With a massive domed Biosphere and buildings that have triple-sealed hulls in case of a breach in the dome, safety and security were the number one concerns of the city leaders, along with the 15 other cities that dotted Luna's surface. Ships arrive everyday to bring in and ship out materials and supplies. Being the first colony established also meant that the Luna Colony had a large Industrial Basin, including Shipyards and Factories scattered all across the Moon, though most were still close enough to a city to transport their products off the celestial body.

Because of the isolated nature of Luna, the SASC Navy have multiple Drydocks and facilities set up on Luna. One of the most well known of these Facilities is the Luna Naval Academy. Located in the Scobee and Smith Craters south of Armstrong City, with a couple dozen buildings connected with one another via tubes and tunnels, the Academy has 5 Drydocks that housed many of the outdated ships used by the 80,000 cadets that called this place home for their training.

The Sol System has changed much since that fateful day 22 years ago. Once, a Garden World housing a overpopulated civilization of 11 billion that had only just begun to expand into their own Star System. Now, it was home to a Space-faring Civilization, with 22 Colonies in 18 Star Systems, not including the roughly dozen Colonies inside the Sol System alone. And while the Navy wasn't as large as some would like it to be, 300 Warships was still leaps and bounds over the meager 35 warships they had back in 2105.

* * *

Many of those GEN-1 warships, the Athens-Class and Gettysburg-Class, had largely been mothballed, either being put in the reserves or being sold off to Private Security Companies under the PLEAD Treaty, which regulated and preceded over what PMCs could do and what kinds of military equipment they could be equipped with. The main goal of these newly created Private Security Companies was to protect Civilian/Military Transports and Civilian Installations, such as Mining Facilities, from Pirates and Insurgents, freeing up the Navy to conduct more urgent duties that required their small but growing force to attend to.

* * *

**_Luna Naval Academy_**

Former Vice Admiral Preston Cole, however, was nevertheless pleased that the Alliance had grown as much as it had in such a short amount of time. And there was no sign of it stopping anytime soon. He looked out the window as a couple old Einstein-Class, having long since been decommissioned by the Alliance for mainline work, sail by. With all the students he's having to work with on a daily basis, he wondered how he stayed sane.

* * *

Used by the cadet to learn hands on about what piloting and controlling a ship is like, the Einstein-Class have found a new lease on life as training ships to help educate the next generation of Officers and crewmen for the mighty warships of the Alliance. All 8 of the Academy's Einsteins had also been retrofitted with a large caliber Railgun running down the length of the spine to simulate the MAC guns that nearly every warship carried in the Alliance Navy. While not anywhere near as powerful as their larger cousins, the Railguns still packed enough of a punch to blow apart a small comet or meteor.

* * *

"Instructor Cole?"

Preston Cole turned to the person behind him, turning out to be one of his students from one of his advance classes, '_Advance Slipspace Theory and Principal'. _The young man had a Datapad in one hand while carrying a bag of school essentials in the other, largely books. He recognised him as being one of the top-scoring students in his classes.

"Samuel, what are you doing here? Class doesn't start for another 45 minutes." He noticed he seemed a little nervous about something.

"I-I know, sir, but I need help with something and I felt you're the only one who could give me some good advice on the matter."

* * *

Samuel Martin Cameron, the 17-year old son of Rear Admiral Gianna Melanie Cameron, who was the Commanding Officer of the Alliance Navy's 3rd Fleet. 5'10", 150 pounds, and fairly tanned skin complemented with ruby red hair and light brown eyes, the young New Zealand boy was noted for having a sharp wit and a cunning intelligence according to his teachers and instructors. With the scores he averages on test and the exceptional skill he displays when put through trial runs on one of the Einsteins, he could very well have command of his own ship by the time he's 24.

However, if he was having a problem with something, then Cole knew that the Rear Admiral was eventually going to find out about it, especially if the matter was serious.

* * *

On multiple occasions, Cole has had students and faculty alike come up to him asking for advice and suggestions on numerous matters, a couple of which were too embarrassing to recall for the aged former Admiral. Despite the minor inconvenience of being the unofficial advisor and guidance councilor of the campus, Cole nevertheless would speak with any and all of them to offer the best advice he could on whatever the subject was.

* * *

Cole took a couple steps towards the boy, motioning for him to sit down at one of the desk, which they both did. By now, Cole could definitely tell that the boy was distraught by something.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Cole spoke up, "Alright, son. What the matter?"

Samuel took a couple breaths to calm himself, he looked back to the Instructor, "I uhhh... I think I got my girlfriend pregnant."

Cole's eyes widened a little, "What do you mean you think?"

"I-I-I don't know for sure. Sarah says she's late for her period..."

"How long?" Cole interrupted.

"About a few weeks now. N-now she's saying she been feeling lightheaded and hasn't been able to keep her food down and..."

Okay, obviously he was freaked out about this, if the rambling was evident enough. Then again, most teens in his position would be. And all of those symptoms could be signs that his girlfriend is in fact pregnant. However, he needed to calm Samuel down first off, and then help him figure out what to do before his mother found out.

* * *

Rear Admiral Cameron was a good Admiral, however, she was also known to be fairly strict. This applied to her son as well. With her husband dead from a mining accident back 10 years ago, she's more or less taken over the Cameron household. Cole knew that young Sam was probably going to get skinned alive by his mother if even half of what he's heard about her is true.

* * *

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Cole grabbed ahold of the young man, trying his best to calm him down. He looked him in the eyes and spoke.

"Has she taken a pregnancy test yet?"

"N-no, sir. Not yet." Samuel had gotten his breathing to ease up.

Cole nodded his head some, "Okay, listen. Have her take a pregnancy test and then come back to me. If she isn't... then everything's fine."

"But w-what if she is?!"

"If she is, then there's nothing you can do about it. Sarah's family are devote Catholics, are they not?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, then, you're screwed in that regard. An abortion is out of the question, her family will neither approve nor let it happen. Either way, you're mother's gonna be pissed off, but that doesn't mean that having a child will be a bad thing. It could be a eye opener for you and help teach you responsibility. I know that isn't what you wanted to hear, but having a child can be great and wonderful experience. You love Sarah, don't you?"

Samuel paused, before slowly nodding his head, "Yes, sir. I do."

Cole smiled, "Then if that's the case, and she does end up being pregnant, there's nothing to worry about. Regardless of what either one of your families say. The fact that you love each other is all that matters. And all that it means is that you're going to be the father of a beautiful child." he finished, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder.

The more Sam listened to his instructor's words, the more they sank in. He was right. If Sarah is pregnant, then there isn't much he can do either way. Sure, his mother will give him an earful, but at the end of it all she'll probably be very happy about the fact she'll be a grandmother, albeit probably alot earlier than she expected. Plus, he did love Sarah, more than anything. He was already toying with the idea of proposing to her after they graduated. This child would deepen and solidify their love for one another.

Slowly, Sam began to smile. He looked up at his instructor and spoke, "Yes, sir. You're right. Thank you, sir."

Cole smiled softly, "Glad I could help out." he turned around to return to his desk, still having a couple things to finish up before class started.

Samuel turned to leave the room, before a thought popped into his mind. He turned and faced the instructor one more, "Sir, do you think that I could..."

"I'll tolerate a 20 minute tardiness from class, Samuel. After that, all bets are off. Just because your girlfriend is pregnant doesn't mean I'm going to give you a free pass off of class today." Cole spoke, turning back around and facing him with a small knowing smirk. Teens will be teens, regardless of their Academic Scores.

Samuel's face immediately sunk in, slightly embarrassed. "Y-yes, sir."

As Cole turned back to his desk, Samuel suddenly spoke up again, "Sir... do you have any family?"

This time, Cole didn't turn and face him. He stopped all together. Taking a low breath, he softly replied, "I did... once."

Realising this was a very personal matter, Samuel decided not to pry any further. With a low "Thank you, sir." Samuel left the room and went about to find his girlfriend, leaving Cole alone in the large room.

* * *

Cole was lost in thought, thinking about the woman he had loved a long time ago. Who then disappeared when he discovered her identity as a Insurrectionist. Then believed he lost her forever when she had supposedly died. Only to find her again some 40 years later, having long since given birth to their daughter that he had never met. He was going to go be with them after the Battle of Psi Serpentis. Fake his death and then live out his days with his family in peace.

But fate had other plans for him, apparently. Now, he was stuck here. Wherever here was. Was his wife and daughter even still alive? Were they dead, killed off by the Covenant like everyone else in their genocidal campaign?

It wouldn't matter. Now, he was never going to find out. All he had left were memories of a time he had actually been happy. Taking a seat in the chair, he looked out the window to see Earth in the distance.

He whispered under his breath, "Sleep well, Lyrenne." and turned back from the large window.

He didn't bother to wipe away the lone tear going down the side of his face.

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.27.2122)  
Sentry Omega  
Hoc System  
Virmire  
New Charity**_

_"Are you sure this is accurate, Jani? This is quite the claim you're making, and I would rather not look like a fool."_ Quarian Hierarch Dullen'Rallen spoke to the hologram of his daughter, who was on Lorek at the moment. She had contacted him not a moment ago, claiming she had discovered something extraordinary only a while ago. Something important regarding the Sangheili.

* * *

The moment she had told him this discovery she had made, he had contacted Hurok immediately, knowing this would be something he would want to hear. While he hasn't arrive yet, he would be here soon enough, and Dullen wasn't wanting this to turn out to be nothing and have Hurok be wasting his time. The Sangheili Hierarch already had enough on his table trying to enlarge the size of their Navy to combat the inevitable threat of the Citadel Council resuming hostilities. He knew just how badly the Citadel Races wanted to get their hands on Covenant Tech.

Impressively, despite all the challenges and obstacles that had been put before them, Hurok had been able to increase the size of the Navy from 141 to over 440 Warships in just 17 years. However, they were facing upwards of 8,000 ships from Council Races alone, not including the various other Races that were affiliated with the Citadel. He could only hope that the Covenant could build up its strength enough before the Citadel Council decided to try and take them down.

* * *

_"Yes. I'm absolutely sure this Data is accurate. We've been going over it and making sure we weren't mistranslating it I don't even know how many times now."_ Jani replied_, _her entire body language showing pure excitement. The Archive had been nothing but one incredible discovery after another. Location of Garden Worlds, information on prominent Terminus System Planets and Space Stations. Oh, this would give them such an edge over their rivals, once the data on the Citadel Races' Core Worlds were finished, anyway.

Not only that, but now they had the location of several prominent Garden Worlds that they could colonize. And the best part was that only the Covenant would have access to them. Sure, they would open a few Relays to help throw off the Citadel, but nevertheless, the Covenant, and in turn the Quarians, would have a future.

* * *

_"Rallen." _came the thunderous voice of Hurok Wattinree, doned in his Supreme Commander's Golden Armor while being flanked by 4 Sangheili Honor Guard. The Quarian Hierarch turned around to face the imposing Sangheili Warlord as he marched into the room, every step taken with the pride and honor that is drilled into every Sangheili warrior. Despite this, Rallen knew that the Sangheili Commander was exhausted from all of the extensive efforts he has gone through to help ensure the Covenant's safety.

After this conversation about his daughter's discovery, he was definitely going to have a talk with Hurok about taking a break.

_"Wattinree. I'm glad you could make it, and sooner than I was expecting you, actually." _

The Sangheili snorted, _"I was told it was important and regarded several species within the Covenant, particularly the Sangheili. I arrived as quickly as I could."_ He motioned for the Honor Guard to leave them, as they filed out of the then noticed the hologram of Jani behind the Quarian Hierarch. The Sangheili tilted his head slightly, before speaking, _"And who is this?"_

Jani took a soft breath in before speaking,_ "Greetings, Noble Hierarch. I am Jani'Rallen. I'm one of the scientist stationed-"_

_"Stationed at the excavation site on Lorek. Yes, I remember. Your expertise in the study of ancient sites is what prompted me to choose you for the site you're at now."_

If her face wasn't covered by a visor, Hurok would have seen the young Quarian's blush, as the young doctor became slightly squeamish from his gaze, _"Uhh... well. I-I don't know about being an expert..."_

_"Scientist."_

The sudden change in his voice immediately told her she needed to pay attention. The Sangheili Warlord straighten his body out before continuing, _"I have had a long and tiring week. The last thing I came here for was to give praise to somebody's hologram, unless they are deserving of it. So, what have you found that warrants my attention?"_

While the Sangheili was being rather polite, for a Sangheili, about it, the message was very clear. '_I'm in a pissed off mood and the last I'm wanting to hear is some useless bullshit. Get to the point and it better be good.'_

* * *

Nodding nervously, Jani opened up her Omni-tool and began typing on it as she began to speak, _"Right, Noble Hierarch. As we were exploring the Forerunner site, we discovered the Archive, which ever since we found it, we've been translating, downloading, and cataloging all the information stored on it in order to help our people in the future. Numerous Garden Worlds have been discovered thanks to it, along with massive amounts of information on local Warlords in the Terminus Systems and on the Citadel Races' Core Worlds." _

_"Yes, I'm aware. You sent this information to us days ago, this is nothing new." _Hurok's voice was sounded as if he was getting aggravated at the end.

Jani shifted her weight a little, _"In the past, your kinsmen stated that despite finding ruins such as this one with relative frequency, the Covenant always had trouble accessing them. This Archive, however, can be access with relative ease. All that was required were pretty much voice commands." _

_"Again, nothing new. What is your point?" _Hurok, his voice a lowly growl, was now visibly irritated. This was sounding more and more like he had come here for nothing.

Jani, however, didn't seemed visibly unnerved by the Sangheili Hierarch. _"Well, earlier today about 4 hours ago, I was in the Archive cataloging the latest data we had managed to translate. On a pure hunch, I thought I'd test out the capabilities of the Archive. So I started listing off a few names of spacefaring species, which lead to the Archive showing multitudes of planets that they inhabited. So, I decided to try and narrow it down, naming off the Homeworlds of these spacefaring people. Sure, enough, it showed their respective planets. But, strangely enough, when I spoke for the location of your people's Homeworld, Sanghelios, nothing came up. Along with all the other supposed Homeworlds of the other Covenant Species save for mine and the Krogan. According to this Forerunner Archive, your Homeworld and all the other supposed worlds of the Covenant don't exist."_

* * *

This sudden revelation shocked both the Hierarchs. Jani hadn't told her father of this discovery. Hurok, however, was completely dumbfounded. Sanghelios doesn't exist here? Impossible!

_"T-That cannot be! Impossible!" _The Sangheili stammered out, surprising both of the Quarians that he was even capable of it.

_"That was my thoughts exactly, and it led me to two conclusions. Either you and your fellow Covenant members were lying about where you're from," _This earned a threatening growl out Hurok, _"Or, something else entirely." _She finished.

_"What exactly?" _Rallen finally spoke, now even he was unsure of where she was going with this. She hadn't even made a mention of the revelation she had spoken of to him earlier, so every bit of this was completely new to him. Hurok was silent, his attention completely focused on the hologram.

Jani collected her thoughts, then took a deep breath before she continued, _"Well, I sat there for a long time and thought about it, about how this could be. And... well, it kinda dawned on me. Something we didn't consider beforehand. The Void."_

_"The Void? What of it?" _Hurok questioned.

_"Even though you probably know more about it than anyone else in the galaxy, you and others of the Covenant have stated numerous times that even you don't fully understand it. From what myself and other Quarians who've studied it have been able to gather, the Void basically bends time and space into multiple dimensions, possibly upwards of 11 according to some studies on it, thereby shortening the time needed to travel from one point to another." _

This information wasn't new. The Covenant were largely aware of how the Void worked, but that didn't mean they had a full grasp on it. There were a number of things that could happen while traveling in the Void which could cause ships to disappear and never be heard from again.

_"We have no idea what happens when you bend reality like that, especially if an accident were to happen while travelling through it. It could cause you to end up in a complete different part of the galaxy. Or even..." _

_"Jani, are you seriously suggesting that the Covenant aren't even from this galaxy?!" _Rallen was honestly bewildered his own daughter would even suggest something as absurd as this. She can't possibly be serious about this.

_"Hell, maybe not even this dimension as far as we know." _Jani continued, unfazed by her father's accusing gaze, _"There's honestly so little we actually understand about the Void. Is it really impossible to think that during one of your jumps, something happened and it caused you to have ended up somewhere entirely different all together?" _

_"Jani, that's completely-" _

_"Possible." _

Rallen turned to his Sangheili counterpart, who had been silent as the younger Quarian went through her explanation, surprised that he was actually considering it.

* * *

For Hurok, however, this actually made quiet a bit a sense. The fact that despite everything they've tried, they haven't been able to raise a single response from the rest of the Covenant, High Charity or even another Fleet. Then there's the surprising lack of Forerunner Relics. Plus, it wouldn't have been the first time a ship has gone missing.

He remembered, from back when he was a young recruit, the story about how an entire Covenant Colonizing Fleet, consisting of some 50 warships, disappeared and were never heard from again after conducting a combined mass jump through slipspace. No-one ever figured out what had happened to the Fleet, though nowadays, no-one really cares, considering most of the problems with the Void drives have been fixed by the Huragok and that the incident happened some 900 years ago.

Shipmasters are taught very early on that safety is one of the primary concerns regarding travel through the Void.

* * *

He looked back to the hologram, _"While I'm not in full agreement, I will admit your theory has some merit to it. But more research would have to be done in order to confirm it." _

_"Plus, Noble Hierarch, if Kolre does find one of your 'Oracles', it may help us as well." _Jani responded, happy that the Sangheili hadn't just brushed off her theory.

While he hadn't agreed with Kolre's decision to leave the Lorek Excavation Site so lightly defended, he understood that the Sangheili General had wanted to have as much military support as he could in securing the other Forerunner Site before the Salarians got their filthy hands on it. Plus, there was another Patrol Flotilla of 16 ships arriving in a couple days to Lorek, which included one ORS-Class Heavy Cruiser. The Flotilla should be more than enough of a defensive Fleet to ward off any of the local Warlords or Pirates.

_"Now, on to the other, more important matter as to why I asked for you today." _Jani spoke once more, breaking Hurok's line of thought.

_"Noble Hierarch, going back to the matter of locating fellow Covenant, I stumbled across something interesting when I asked the Archive to look for anything regarding Sangheili." _

_"What, exactly?" _Hurok asked. If she hadn't found Sanghelios, or any Covenant Homeworld for that matter, what could she have discovered that would regard the Sangheili.

With a smile hidden behind her visor, she tapped a few commands onto her Omni-tool, before looking back to the two Hierarchs. A few moments later, Rallen's Omni-tool beeped, indicating he had received a data packet. Opening it up, the packet turned out to be a holographic mapping of a Star System with a Red Giant with 3 rocky Planets and 2 Gas Giants orbiting it. But all the data and information was being focused on the 2nd rocky Planet in the Star System, which revealed to be a massive Garden World, twice the size of Virmire.

So she had found a Garden World in the Archive. What was her point?

But then he took a closer look at the data and information regarding the planet in question. The data was showing population stats, 3 of them to be exact. Then, he saw the names placed next to each of the population figures. His eyes widened in pure shock.

_Sangheili - 5,117,000,000_

_Kig-yar - 7,520,000,000_

_Mgalekgolo - 1,190,000,000_

Jani smiled, knowing she had done extremely well. Cheerfully, she spoke to the stunned Hierarchs, _"Noble Hierarch, I would like to introduce you to the answer to your problem of population. I think we'll now have a very substantial force strong enough to give the Citadel Council a run for their money. This is the __planet Sacred Refuge.__"_

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.31.2122)  
Terminus Systems  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
Inside Forerunner**_**_ Facility orbiting _**_**Gas Giant Zulzirk**_

_"When did you discover this?" _Sangheili General Kolre Uzinaree spoke as he observed the former STG command center, now nothing more than a cesspool of blood and gore. Bits and remnants of bodies laid strewed out, greenish blood smeared and splashed everywhere. A grisly and fierce battle had happened here, and not too long ago. Kolre wanted to know what.

_"About... 20, 30 minutes ago. Whatever happened here didn't happen that long ago. An hour, maybe two tops before we got here." _Urdnot Wrex spoke, kneeling as he observed the remnant of a STG Operative that had been shredded apart. All that was left was a severed arm and part of the surrounding torso. He knew for a fact the Sangheili didn't do this. He had been around them long enough to know this wasn't their style. The whole scene in the room reminded the Krogan Battlemaster of stories he had heard about the Rachni Wars.

He looked up at one of the doors, which had several terminals and tables around it, some of which were broken and/or smashed. _"It's weird. It's like they knew something was coming and tried to defend against it, but the bullet marks and blood trails around the room suggest none of them tried to make a run for it whenever shit hit the fan. They were firing all over the place, though. Why?"_

_"Looks like the Salarians tried to grow a quad and lost." _A few Krogan started to chuckled at the remark. Wrex, however, was silent as he continued observing the room. In the many centuries that he's been alive, he's learned to never doubt his instincts. And right now, his instincts were telling him that whatever did this should have every one of them concerned.

_"General, we're not having any luck with the terminals, the ones that are working anyway." _ Lt Zeetor'Feezu walked over, while his platoon of Quarian Marines either helped watch the perimeter or tried their luck with any of the working terminals in the command center. Wrex walked away to one of the torn open doors.

Kolre nodded, _"Keep trying. We need to at least get some sense of what happened here." _

_"General, over here." _Wrex shouted all the sudden from the barricaded door. Kolre walked over to where Wrex was. Wrex was kneeled down once more, looking down the hallway. Even though it was illuminated, there was still an ominous atmosphere to it. The floor and sides of the wall were coated in a pasty, brownish-green bloody gore that trailed down the hallway, further into the facility.

But that's when he smelt it, that rotting, decaying stench. Kolre's mind was instantly drawn back to memories of when he was a young Major, a horrid memory of an old and unrelenting foe encountered on a distant fringe world of the Covenant, one he would never forget. He shooked his head and growled in a attempt to regain focus on the matter at hand. They were all in extreme danger.

_"What is it?" _Wrex, having notice the Sangheili's sudden discomfort and uneasiness, spoke up.

_"That stench." _Kolre growled.

_"Yeah, I smell it, too. Not too pleasant. What about it?" _

_"I've smelt it before." _The Sangheili General aimed his Plasma Repeater down the hallway, scanning for anything that wasn't one of his own soldiers. Seeing nothing, he glanced back, _"Feezu." _

_"Sir!" _

_"You and your men are to remain here and hold this position. Try to contact our Flotilla and tell them not to let a single ship escape from the facility. __Wrex, you and a Lance of your Krogan warriors will accompany me with my men. The rest of them will stay and support the Quarians while they continue to try and access the Salarian databanks. __"_

As if on a silent cue, the Sangheili Spec Ops moved forward down the hallway, cautiously. Wrex eyed the Sangheili Commander, being speaking, _"What's going on, Kolre?"_

Kolre didn't even looked back at the Krogan Battlemaster as he walked forward. In a low voice, he replied, _"The Salarians may have just doomed the Galaxy." _

* * *

_**Orbit of Forerunner Facility  
CCS-Battlecruiser 'Kindled Spirit'**_

_"Bring the guns to bear on that Cruiser! Target it's bridge and engines!" _Shipmaster Kida 'Vazamee roared out as the ship shuddered from three Mass Accelerator rounds slamming into the dwindling shields protecting the Covenant Warship.

_"Shipmaster, shields are down to 23%!"_

_"Target is locked on with our torpedoes."_

_"Fire!" _Kida commanded, as the Kindled Spirit fired two Plasma Torpedoes at the STG Cruiser. The projectiles streamed through space towards their target before slamming into the warship, one striking the bridge of the warship while the other one connected with the engines, setting them alight. The Salarian Cruiser was consumed in a massive explosion as its engines went critical.

The 3 STG Frigates that had supported the Cruiser were quick to make an FTL jump away from the Battlecruiser in order to regroup and prepare for a new plan of attack. Kida knew, however, that they would be back.

* * *

The Battlecruiser and its group of 4 CAR-Heavy Frigates had been fighting the STG Fleet for the better part of several hours now. The STG would come in, strike at the Covenant Flotilla, who in turn would retaliate and destroy a couple of their vessels before the STG would retreat. The problem was, though, that the STG had another Flotilla coming in on today of all day, 19 Frigates with 6 Cruisers as well as an unknown number of STG infantry that were successfully deployed to the Forerunner Facility, to reinforce the group here. This had cost him three of his Heavy Frigates, and his last one has received significant damage.

Shortly before they set out to the System, Kida had put out a request for assistance to any nearby Covenant Battlegroups and Flotillas. One group, a small Patrol Flotilla consisted of 3 Battlecruisers, stated that they would be able to arrived within the same time that they would and assist them in securing the site.

* * *

_"Damn, where are they? They should have been here by now!" _Kida growled, obviously angered at the supposed helps' tardiness.

* * *

Kida 'Vazamee was a relatively young Shipmaster, being only 45 years. Standing 7'11" and weighing roughly 350 pounds, he was about average sized for a Sangheili. But, nonetheless, he had made a name for himself as a Shipmaster, taking down numerous pirate bands and bases over the years. Now entrusted with a Flotilla, he had hoped to prove himself in the eyes of his superiors with the hopes that he'll one day lead his own Battlegroup, or Fleet even.

Unlike most Sangheili Shipmasters, who typically wear golden armor as a sign of their status, Kida wore the steel-colored armor of a Special Operations Sangheili. No-one amongst his crew knew why he did, though they were aware it was some kind of very personal matter to him.

* * *

With the STG losing 5 Cruisers and 7 Frigates, the STG had pullen back their ships in case the Covenant had called reinforcements, which Kida had. But they had yet to arrived, much to the Shipmaster's anger.

_"What's the status of our ship?" _Kida turned to the various stations that dotted the bridge of his vessel.

_"Shipmaster, our shields are recharging at a rate of 4% per minute. Our armor has received minimal damage thanks to the shields but if we lose that, then our armor won't last for very long against this kind of firepower." _A Quarian stationed at the Engineering Station replied.

_"Weapons are still functioning at optimal capacity." _A Sangheili reported from the Weapons Station.

_"Navigation computers are still functioning optimally." _A Kig-yar responded from the Navigations Station.

_"Communications are fine, but I still haven't heard anything from the Patrol group that are supposed to be coming in." _Another Kig-yar spoke from the Communications Station.

Kida snarled, cursing whoever was the commander of that group for their tardiness. Because of them, he's lost three ships, soon to be four if the surviving CAR-Class takes anymore damage. The situation was grim.

_"Weeping Shadows, what is the status of your ship?" _Kida spoke to the terminal in front of him.

A staticy reply came back, _"Bad, Shipmaster. Our hull is reporting an 68% compromise. Engines are operating at 35% and our shielding is not coming back on. Our Mass Accelerators were damaged, but 5 of our Plasma Turrets and 15 Mass Drivers are still working."_

Kida growled softly. He knew the ship was badly damaged, but by the gods, the damn thing wouldn't survive another hit if the STG came back. Even if it could still fight somewhat, it was mostly just a hinderance if it couldn't withstand another hit.

_"Captain," _He spoke, though he always had trouble pronouncing that word, _"I want you to set your engines to go critical, then abandon ship. That ship is nothing more than a floating death trap for you at the moment. After you depart, direct your lifepods to my ship, we'll do our best to hurry and bring you aboard."_

There was a short pause, before a response was heard, _"Yes, Shipmaster. We'll start right away. Weeping Shadows, out."_

* * *

Kida sighed, knowing that this battle would only get worse the longer it dragged out. He needed those reinforcements now, otherwise they would be stranded here with no way of escaping. And he knew that the STG wouldn't show them any mercy after the beating they've continuous received from his ships.

_"Shipmaster! High energy readings matching Mass Effect FTL cores! Looks like the Salarians are back for another rematch." _The Kig-yar navigator spoke up.

Sure enough, every one of the surviving STG ships had jumped in orbit of the Forerunner Facility roughly 70,000 km from his location. 7 Cruisers and 12 Frigates, each having the sleek, slightly bulbous design affiliated with the Salarian Union's ships. Why they had them bright white and blue of all colors Kida could never understand.

* * *

_"Arm our torpedoes and energy projector! Get me firing solutions on their Cruisers." _The Sangheili Shipmaster ordered out.

The mighty Covenant warship rumbled as its engines roared to life, while its weapons began to glow fiercely as they charged up. The STG Fleet immediately scattered, dividing up into 5 different groups in order to minimize their chances of being hit. _'Clever amphibians.' _

_"Shipmaster, I have firing solutions on these Five Cruisers." _The Weapons Stations spoke.

_"Open fire!" _Kida commanded. He wanted the biggest threats taken out first before anything.

* * *

The Kindled Spirit roared to life as 8 Plasma Torpedoes fired out the sides of the Battlecruiser, streaming along towards their targets. The Battlecruiser's forward Energy Projector fired as well, catching the Salarian Cruiser and bisecting it before it could perform evasive maneuvers. The other Cruisers immediately sped out of the way, desperate to avoid the glowing orbs of death.

In the end, three Cruisers were able to escape and evade the torpedoes, while one was struck by both of the orbs in the middle and engine section, causing the ship to ignite into a fiery mini nova.

Several of the Frigates moved in as they opened fire with their Mass Drivers. Several of the projectiles slammed into the Battlecruiser's shields as the Covenant warship returned fire with numerous pulse lasers and plasma turrets. Mass Effect accelerated rounds slammed into the shields of the mighty Covenant warship, while numerous lasers and plasma bolt connected and melted away the hulls of the Salarian ships as the Battlecruiser, and its crew, fought for their lives.

One by one, 4 Salarian Frigates were slain by the Battlecruiser, but the sheer amount of firepower being thrown at it was too much even for the mighty Covenant warship. Slowly but surely, the shields started to fail as the surviving Cruisers and Frigates fired everything they had at the Covenant vessel.

* * *

_"Shipmaster, shields have failed and we're taking direct hull damage! We won't be able to take much more of this!" _The Quarian shouted from the Engineering Station.

Kida snarled, unsure of what to do. He was outnumbered and, for once, outgunned. Even if he ordered a retreat, he doubted his ship would get very far from the marauding STG ships. He was in a precarious and likely futile situation. But he would be damned if he wasn't going to go down fighting.

And his honor as a Sangheili warrior, he would die before letting the STG capture his warship.

_"Prep all weapons we have at our disposal! If we're to die today, then we shall take many of these-"_

_"Shipmaster! Three new signatures are entering normal space!" _Navigations suddenly spoke up.

* * *

40,000 km from the two warring fleets, 3 slipspace portals came into existence, as 3 CCS-Battlecruiser came gliding through them. The STG ships, the ones not engaged with the Kindled Spirit, realigned themselves to counter this new threat. The Battlecruisers moved in to pounce, charging up their Plasma Torpedoes as they closed in on the STG fleet.

Both Fleets opened fire as they closed the distance on one another.

* * *

Kida flashed a predatory smile, _"The Gods favors us today! Give me full power to the engines! I want our shields back up and running. No sense letting them kill off the rest of our prey!" _He spoke with what could only be described as glee, earning a few chuckles of approval from the fellow Sangheili aboard.

_'Kindled Spirit, this is the Harbinger of Solace with the Divine Lance and the Resplendent Declaration. We're moving in to provide support.'_

Kida watched as the three Battlecruisers closed in on the STG fleet, firing away with their weapons as the STG attempted to stop them. The STG Fleet responded in kind, attempting to push back the Covenant battlegroup as they closed in.

_"Understood, Harbinger. If you have any ground forces, deploy them to the holy site. The General will appreciate the reinforcements, I'm sure."_

_'Kindled Spirit, do you read us? Come in.' _

Speak of the Devil, the very same General was hailing him now.

_"Go ahead, General."_

_'Shipmaster, you must not let a single STG ship leave! Especially any that are docked with the Facility.'_

Kida narrowed his eyes slightly, curious. What had the General worked up?

_"Understood, General. Be advised you have friendly reinforcements inbound to the station."_

_'What?! No! Send them away imm*Static*'_

Static suddenly filled the line, as the signal was suddenly lost. _"General, come in. General, do you read?!"_

The Communications Officers did their best to reestablish the connection, but to no avail. The General was either being jammed or he was too far in the facility for the signal to effectively reach the outside. Either way, they were in trouble and needed all the help they could get. Something had been discovered in the Facility. And Kida prayed to the gods it wasn't what he thought it was.

* * *

**Large Chamber Inside Forerunner Facility**

_"Shipmaster do you read? Shipmaster, come in!" _Kolre spoke into his headset, trying to raised the ship but only receiving static. _"Damn." _He growled. They were either too deep in the facility or someone, or something, was jamming them. The Sangheili/Krogan group had descended deep into the facility. While they hadn't encountered anything, the eerie feeling that they were being watched never left any of them. Even now in the large room, they still had the feeling.

Occasionally, they would come across Salarian blood stained floors and/or strange, greenish rotted residue all over the walls and floor.

But now, after walking and turning corners and rooms, they had stopped in a large room and to make matters worse, they had lost contact with friendly forces near the outside and in orbit, which wasn't good. And Kolre wasn't telling Wrex anything about what was going on. In fact, Kolre and the other Sangheili were more focused on scanning the surroundings than informing him or his fellow Krogan as to what the hell was going on.

And Wrex has had enough, they needed answers now as to what the hell they were getting into.

* * *

He walked up to Kolre and grabbed him by the shoulder guard, looking each other in the eyes, _"Alright, enough! Just what the hell has gotten you so spooked?! I've never seen you or any Sangheili act like this. What is going on, and don't bullshit me!" _The other Krogan moved in behind Wrex, while the other Sangheili closed in behind Kolre, unsure and suspicious of what the Krogan were getting ready to do.

The Sangheili General, to his credit, kept his calm as he stared the Krogan in the eyes. Snorting, the Sangheili replied, _"Do you recall the tales of your people's struggle against the Rachni?"_

Wrex blinked, before responding, _"Of course. Every Krogan knows about the Rachni Wars. What about it?"_

Kolre freed himself from Wrex's grip before continuing, _"What we may very well be facing is far worst than the Rachni could have ever dreamed of being."_

_"What. Is. It, Kolre?" _Wrex growled, gripping his Claymore shotgun tightly.

_"The Flood. A parasitic lifeform that consumes all in its path. Sangheili, Salarian, Krogan, it doesn't matter. We're nothing more than food to it. And these damn foolish Salarians may have very well unleashed them upon us." _

_"A parasite? That's what's got you and the other split-lips worked up?" _The Battlemaster questioned, earning a few chuckles from his fellow Krogan. They were worked up over some kind of parasite? These guys seriously needed to stop by Tuchanka sometime.

_"This parasite is unlike anything you've ever encountered, Krogan. One single spore can destroy a species. They assault you by the hundreds or thousands of infection pods, overwhelming you with sheer quantity. Unless you have an absurd amount of firepower, they are practically unstoppable."_

_"I think you might be overreacting a little. Whatever they are, they can't be any worse than a Thresher Maw." _Wrex snorted. While he's had his fair share of weird and dangerous encounters, he doubted these... 'Flood' creatures would be anything him and his Krogan couldn't handle. Then again, his instincts were going haywire at the moment, telling him they needed to leave.

That was when they all the scream. An feral, savage scream that seemed to derive from hell itself. Something unnatural in origin.

* * *

Every living soul turned towards the source of the scream, weapons aimed and ready to fire. The source was an open door that led out to a hallway leading further into the facility. The lights were dimmed in the hallway, giving it an eerie look and feel. Kolre didn't take his eyes off the door, as he had a nagging feeling.

Something was there.

Wrex then saw something glowing on the ground, behind one of the pillars in the room. Not taking his gun's aim off the door, he sidestepped over and grabbed the object. He recognized what it was. It was part of a headpiece that the STG would wear, a tactical eyepiece from the look of it. It was stained with the blood and flesh of what he thought was Salarian matter.

_"Kolre. Over here. I found something." _He spoke up, catching Kolre's attention as he walked over with a couple other Sangheili and a Krogan. Kolre glanced back at the rest of the group and commanded, _"All of you. Spread out and form a perimeter. Do not leave this room under any circumstances." _The rest of the Sangheili and Krogan spread out to set up a solid defensive line.

_"What is it?" _A Sangheili Spec Ops Officer questioned.

_"It's an STG Tactical Eyepiece. They wear them on their head over one of their eyes to stay linked up with their buddies and record whatever they feel is important." _

_"Can you access it?" _Kolre asked. He glanced back at the open door.

Wrex snorted, _"Are you kidding? Not a chance. But I bet one of the Quarians could access it." _He continued, holding up the eyepiece to Kolre to observe. Kolre took the eyepiece and stored it in one of the compartments of his armor.

_"What was that?" _

Kolre and Wrex both turned to see a Krogan scanning above his position, a platform-like structure that jutted out and ran down the length of the wall. A soft, squishy sound could be heard coming from there. Several Sangheili and Krogan trained their weapons on the source of the sound, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The squishy sound returned, but none of them could pinpoint where exactly it was coming from up there.

_"What the hell is that sound?" _A Krogan questioned. Same Krogan and another Krogan stepped closer towards the raised platform.

Kolre's mind raced back to distant memories, before a horrid realization came onto him.

_"Get back, now!"_

* * *

Too late, dozens of infection pods toppled over the side of the platform onto the two hapless Krogan, who opened up with automatic fire on the small creatures descending upon them. While they killed several of the creatures, enough of them broke through and threw themselves onto the Krogan. Several latched onto them and began to burrow beneath the skin.

Roars of _"Get off me!" _quickly changed into pained screams of _"Get it off! Get it out! Arghh!" _The two krogan screams echoed in the room as they fell to the floor. Several more infection pods swarmed over and burrowed into them as several hundred more entered the fray and threw themselves at the Covenant troops. The Sangheili and Krogan had by this point long since opened fire on the infection pods, killing dozens of them by the second. But for every one of the creatures they killed, it seemed like three or four more would take its place.

Kolre fired away with his Plasma Repeater, killing scores of the small parasites in rapid succession, but more and more kept coming. Wrex was beside him with a couple Sangheili Spec Ops, firing away at the horde of infection pods crawling towards them. Several explosions occurred in rapid succession as several plasma grenades were thrown to further dwindle the parasites numbers. The number of infection pods were now much more manageable, as their numbers continued to drop from the combined firepower of the 30-man Covenant Fireteam.

That, however, didn't stop the creatures from sinking their tentacles into 4 Sangheili and another Krogan.

As this was going on, a door behind the flood horde suddenly bented outwards, as creatures from the other side screamed, roared, and rammed into the door. After several repeated rammings, the door finally buckled, crashing outward and unleashing the horde of combat forms behind the door.

* * *

These combat forms, however, were nothing like Kolre had ever seen before. He quickly realized, though, that these infected creatures were in fact Salarians, or what were once Salarians. Their bodies, however, had forgone a horrendous mutation. Their heads were lurched sideways at an unnatural angle, a look of pure anguish forever adorning its face, as three sets of tentacles stuck out from the base of the neck. Their fingers had been sharpened into claws, while their hands and arms twitched sporadically and occasionally. Their skin had become rotted and decayed, a sickly brownish color.

* * *

The Combat forms shrieked and charged at the Covenant troops. Kolre quickly saw the combat forms and fired into their ranks, cutting down several as they ran and threw themselves at him and his Covenant soldiers. While relatively easy to take down, they made of for this frailness with numbers. Several were able to reach the Covenant soldiers, and began slashing at them. Sangheili shields protected them from the strikes, allowing them to quickly dispatch of the monsters before turning their attention towards other flood creatures.

The Krogan, though their Kinetic Barriers didn't protect them from the parasite's melee strikes, had their thick scaly hides to protect them, as well as the gift of a redundant nervous system. Wrex had one Combat form pounce on him, clawing away at his hump, before he shrugged it off and crushed its chest under his boot. He killed another one with a shot from his Claymore, before backing up towards Kolre's flank as the Flood continued to throw themselves at the Covenant.

Kolre fired numerous burst from his plasma repeater, scoring a kill with every burst. But there just seemed to be no end to the damned creatures. They needed to leave, or else run the risk of being turned into Flood creatures as well. Then, suddenly, the Flood started to return fire with Mass Effect weapons.

_"Everyone, pull back! Back to the Command Center!" _Kolre commanded as he continued firing on the approaching horde of abominations. The surviving Sangheili and Krogan in the room began to pull back through the door that they entered through, firing occasionally at combat forms or infection pods that got a little too close.

The Flood, however, weren't going to allow their prey to escape so easily. Salarian Combat Forms pounced and brought down two more Sangheili and yet another Krogan, allowing the infection pods to latch on and burrow into the skin of their victims to begin infecting them.

Kolre and Wrex were both the last ones through the door, firing away at the encroaching parasites. They also saw a glimpse at what the Flood did to Krogan. A massive monstrosity rose from amongst the horde of undead nightmares, towering some 12 feet in height, and from what Kolre could see, had become extremely muscular and bulky.

Kolre, however, didn't stay to see what had been done to the unfortunate creature. Growling, he ran through the door and caught up with the surviving group, who continued to try and make their way back to friendly forces. And get the hell out of here while they were at it.

* * *

**STG Command Center**

Lt Zeetor'Feezu was mentally cursing the Salarians and their damned encryption skills. The one terminal they had managed to find that wasn't busted or purged and the damned thing had more firewalls that what the Citadel Councilors probably used. Sighing, he glanced up to see the Krogan soldiers Kolre had left behind standing guard at the doors of the Command Center, watching out for when Kolre's group returned, or any hostiles that wanted to pick a fight.

Feezu had noticed Kolre's uneasiness regarding the strange green splotches on the floor and walls. There was something in his look that implied he knew what it was. And if a Sangheili, a General for that matter, was nervous, then Feezu had every reason to be concerned as well. There wasn't much in the galaxy that would make a Sangheili... worried.

Scared wouldn't be the right word to use. At least, that's what Feezu hoped.

_"Keelah, this damn thing better have some valuable data on it to be so heavily encrypted." _A Quarian Sergeant moaned, as he typed away on his Omni-tool trying to get pass the numerous firewalls set up.

_"It will be, just have a little faith Sgt." _

_"Hope so, we've already lost enough people." _The Sgt muttered as he continued to work on the terminal.

* * *

Feezu walked over towards the door that Kolre and his group had gone through, where a squad of Krogan were standing guard. It had been some time now since they had left, and they hadn't heard anything on comms from the group since they had left, save for a garbled order to the Battlecruisers to destroy any and all STG ships in the area.

He turned to one of the Krogan, _"Any word from the General or his group?"_

_"No, nothing." _The Krogan replied, almost nonchalantly.

Feezu's eyes narrowed, concerned, _"Doesn't it strike you odd that the General and the Sangheili seemed... I don't know, disturbed when we showed them this?" _He motioned back at the strange green residue all across the floor, he wasn't sure if it was blood. He hoped it wasn't.

_"Of course. It's because the split-lips know what it is. And it's got them scared shitless." _

_"What makes you think that?" _Feezu questioned. Surely Kolre wouldn't hide something from them if it meant they were in danger.

_"Probably because they're hoping it's not whatever they think it is. That's why he ran off with the boss and our best fighters, so they could go find it. Doesn't matter to me or the boys here though." _The Krogan responded with a grin, looking back to the Quarian. _"All it means is that when it shows up, we'll get to have some fun of our own. Maybe kill something that'll give us an actual challenge."_

The Krogan and his fellow Krogan chuckled at the comment, before turning their attention back to the door and the hallway at the front. Feezu sighed, of course the Krogan were always looking for a fight. And now here they were, fighting secretive wars with the Citadel's best espionage group in order to acquire Forerunner Relics. The only thing he hoped for that the lives lost would be worth it in the end.

* * *

_"I got movement on my tracker!" _A Krogan spoke, and every Krogan and Quarian not working on a terminal grabbed their weapons and got in position. Feezu got into cover behind a knocked over terminal next to the Krogan he had been speaking to earlier. All of their weapons were trained down the hallway, waiting for whatever was about to come their way.

Tension grew as the motion trackers continued to show the lone target moving, soon enough it would round the corner. While they had no idea what or who it was, the tracker was showing a hostile, which lead to Feezu assuming it was a STG group or something.

He, along with everybody else, were surprised by what rounded the corner.

What came around the corner of the hallway, was what Feezu could only describe as a gasbag with tentacles. The small creature rounded the corner and stop, looking around while waving its four long tentacles around. Feezu couldn't see any eyes, he figured those tentacles helped it 'see' its environment.

_"What the fuck is that? Some kinda squid or something?" _A Krogan questioned, looking over to the Krogan in front of Feezu, who just shrugged his shoulders.

The Krogan in front of Feezu stood up, _"Dunno. Hehe, might a long lost cousin of the Hanar."_ The Krogan all laughed at the joke, as the same Krogan started walking over towards the small creature. The creature noticed the Krogan and started to crawl towards it. Feezu, on the other hand, wasn't sure if that was a good idea. He doubted it posed much of a threat if any, but he'd rather not take any chances.

_"Hold on a minute-"_

_"Aw, what's it gonna do, Quarian? Tickle me to death?" _The Krogan all howled with laughter again.

Then the creature lunged at him. The creature latched onto the lone Krogan's left thigh, digging its tentacles into his flesh. He roared in pain as the creature continued to burrow deeper, tearing into the muscles tissue. The Krogan snarled as he grabbed the creature by its 'head' and pulled, until the strength of his grip popped the creature, much to his surprise. The Krogan fell backwards, the muscles in his thigh tore and hanging.

The other Krogan, who had been laughing at their companion's situation, finally stopped. Feezu and a couple other Krogan jogged over to the fallen Krogan. Feezu kneeled down beside him and spoke, _"Keelah, how bad is it?"_

_"Graahh, It fucking hurts, if that's what you're asking!" _

_"Shit. Okay, here help me carry him-" _He stopped when he heard more wet, squishing sounds from around the corner. It sounded as if there were hundreds of them. Feezu, however, didn't want to find out. They needed to get back now and secure the door. Or better yet, maybe just fallback altogether.

The sudden shrieking sounds made up his mind real fast. Grabbing the downed Krogan by one shoulder, he looked up at the other two.

_"Don't just stand there! Help me move him!" _

_"Ha! Whatever! We finally got a worthy adversary and you want us to play babysitter. Get lost, suit rat! We're gonna go kill these things and finally get some actual action! Whose with me?!" _Several of the Krogan roared in approval and ran up to follow the two Krogan down the hallway to get in on the action. Several of the Quarian, including Feezu, tried to stop them, but to no avail.

_"Come back, you idiots! Shit!" _He looked back at the Quarian Sergeant and a couple other Quarians, _"Okay, you guys! Get over here and help me move him so we can get him medical attention." _

_"My wound should've healed by now..." _The downed Krogan muttered, looking at the mangled mess that was his thigh. Feezu looked, and sure enough, the wound wasn't healing like the Krogan were infamously known for. Rather, it was, but at an incredibly slow rate, much slower than normal, as he could see the Krogan cells trying to repair the damage enough to where the Krogan could walk. He applied some medical aid to it and patched it up as best he could. It would have to do for now.

Gunfire suddenly erupted, followed by the cheers and roars of the Krogan, along with what he assumed were the shrieks of the creatures. Feezu and the other Quarians proceeded to try and drag the Krogan back into the room, knowing that lifting him was out of the question. The gunfire continued to echo from the end of the hallway, sounding as if the Krogan were winning against whatever these things were.

That is, until he heard the thunderous bellow of something massive, from the same direction the Krogan had gone.

* * *

That's when the gunfire resumed. Then the screaming started. Nightmarish shrieks and bellows joined with the screams as the gunfire slowly became less and less, meaning that something else was attacking the Krogan, and _winning. _

That thought alone scared the hell out of Feezu.

_"Come on! We're taking him and we're leaving! Everybody!" _Feezu ordered out. Everyone of the Quarians, as well as the 5 Krogan that hadn't followed their brethren, got up and grabbed whatever they needed to take with them. Everything else was getting left behind. Wasn't anything worth dying for.

The shrieks suddenly sounded closer, meaning that the things were closing in on them now. The four Quarians dragged the Krogan through the door, where the other Krogan lined up to set up a firing line with their assault rifles and shotguns. Several more Quarians ran over, either moving to help move the downed Quarian or help set up a defensive line with the Krogan. Feezu noticed, though, that several of his Quarians sported injuries from such prolonged fighting, which they weren't used to even after years of retraining from their Covenant brothers-in-arms. Some of them were in no condition to fight whatsoever.

_"Lt, go. Get him and the other wounded back to the transports, I'll stay and coordinate the defense." _The Sgt suddenly spoke up. Feezu was about to protest, but the Sgt spoke once more, _"I'm not dying here. Once I know you and the wounded are far enough, we'll pull out back to the transports." _

_"But what about the General and the others? We can't just leave them."_

_"Screw 'em. Chances are they're dead, too." _One of the Krogan yelled back. _"Just get you ass outta here so we can get out, too. I don't plan on dying here, either. So get moving, already!"_

The shrieks were even louder now, the things were nearly here. Feezu had to make a choice now. Stay and help them, or leave, and possibly leave his men for dead.

Feezu made his choice, as much as he regretted it.

_"Okay, grab him and let's go. Now!" _Feezu turned back to the Sgt, _"As soon as I get them out safely, I'm coming back for you and the men." _He extended his arm out, holding a hand out. The Sgt grasped it with his own, nodding.

_"Good luck, sir." _And with that he turned and ran over to the door where the others had the firing line set up.

Feezu grabbed the Krogan and dragged him out the door they had entered the room in nearly an hour ago, the group of 11 Quarians and 1 Krogan making their way back to the upper levels so they could evacuate the wounded in their group.

Gunfire and monstrous shrieks erupted from the command center they had just left. The roar of battle echoing in the halls, as well as the occasional scream of a dying man. Feezu cursed himself for leaving his men, but the wounded needed to be evacuated. Somebody needed to let the fleet know what was happening inside.

And for the sake of every living soul in the galaxy, he hoped these abominations stayed contained here.

* * *

**Kolre's Group**

Kolre roared as he slashed a Salarian Form in half with his energy sword, before slicing through another one, removing the top half of its chest. After fighting almost nonstop since they began their retreat, Kolre's group had been reduced to 8 Sangheili, including himself, and 6 Krogan, including Wrex. There was just no end to the parasite, attacking relentlessly in wave after wave of bodies.

_"Salarian fools! What have they done?!" _A Sangheili Officer bellowed as he gunned down a trio of Salarian forms with his two Plasma Rifles.

* * *

_"They've pissed me off! That's what!" _Was the only response the Sangheili got as Wrex launched a Biotic Warp at a cluster of Salarian Forms charging him, tearing apart the Flood forms limb by limb as the Warp ripped apart their decayed flesh. He followed up with a point blank shot from his Claymore at another Salarian Form, blasting apart its chest cavity and sending it flying back.

Another Salarian Form fired on him with an ME Assualt Rifle, the bullets ripping into his Kinetic Barrier. The Krogan Battlemaster roared and charged the Salarian Form, ramming it into the wall and crushing it, before firing his Claymore at a trio of infection pods.

* * *

Kolre swapped back to his Plasma Repeater and fired in bursts into the clusters of Flood Forms chasing them, along with the others, cutting down their numbers in droves. But the Flood, true to their name, continued to throw themselves at the Covenant troops. A few Mass Accelerated rounds bounced off his shields.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the last of the Flood forms were either dead or receding back from whatever hell they came from.

_"Everyone, let's move now, while they regroup." _The Sangheili General said, walking past Wrex as he did. Turning to the aged Battlemaster, he spoke, _"They always come back. We need to hurry back to our companions now. Get everyone off the station." _

_"Then what?"_

_"We destroy it." _Kolre paused as he looked at the ragtag group of survivors. _"At this point, the Flood will spread and overrun this station. And we don't have enough troops to contain such a large infestation. We'll pull our troops back and burn the station into ashes with our ships in orbit."_

While none of them wanted to leave here empty handed, after everything they've gone through, they all agreed that the Flood were the bigger priority here. They had to be contained, at all cost. Wrex didn't even want to think of what would happen if these things made their way to a Garden World or even, Kalros forbid, a homeworld. These things would spread worse than any plague, and were more dangerous than the Geth or even the Rachni. They had to be destroyed.

* * *

Without another word, the group continued to flee upward to the surface, where they could get in contact with the orbiting fleet and warn them of what was here. Turning several corners and going through several rooms, while occasionally coming across a few Flood forms, the group made their way to a large room, with an elevator at the center.

The elevator was somewhere above them and would have to be called down, but nonetheless, it meant they could get out and get back to the surface.

_"By Kalros, let's get the hell outta here." _Wrex spoke, as a Sangheili moved over to where the elevator controls were.

* * *

But just as he was about to pushed the button, Kolre noticed something moving on the ceiling above them. To his horror, a massive Flood form leapt down at them. Kolre barely had time to scream at the soldier as the Sangheili was crushed underneath the weight of the behemoth. The remaining Covenant troops aimed their weapons at the new Flood creature, which stood up, showing its massive profile.

* * *

The Flood Form stood at a massive 12 feet in height, towering over even the mighty Mgalekgolo. It looks like it was two creatures that fused together to create this monstrosity. On either side, it's arms had a skeletal feel to them, with a gap in the upper arm areas that appeared to be made out of two different arms. The left arm had sharpened claws at the end of its hand, while the right had a massive claw on it, easily capable of killing anyone it strikes with one blow. Its body was sickly brown, decayed and deformed, yet strangely muscular at the same time. The one feature, however, that grasped both Kolre and Wrex's attention, was the head. To their horror, they realized this thing was once a Krogan, or rather two Krogan that had been fused together. Its head was actually both tops halfs of the Krogan mouth, while their lower jaws had lost the skin linings and served as a sort of pair of mandibles in between. Kolre could see several infection pod tentacles sticking out in several spots.

* * *

The Krogan Flood Form roared at them and charged, crossing the room in seconds and pounced at the nearest Covenant troop. The hapless Krogan fired away with his Plasma Rifle, as did everyone else, but the monster lashed out and impaled him on its claw, killing him instantly before tossing him aside. The Covenant troops fired everything they had at the monster, several even chucking grenades at the beast. While the grenades did seem to damage it slightly, everything else just seemed to piss it off.

The Krogan form charged again, prompting Wrex to quickly yell, _"Scatter!" _to which everyone happily did, but one Sangheili wasn't quick enough. The Krogan grabbed him by the leg and proceeded to slam him repeatedly into the ground over and over again, leaving nothing more than an bloody, mangled corpse by the time it stopped.

With the creature distracted, Kolre saw his chance to strike. Launching himself at the beast, he ignited his Plasma Sword and slashed at the Flood Form's leg, slicing into it and dismembering completely. The Flood Form roared in pain as it swiped at the Sangheili General, missing by just mere inches and crashing to the ground. Wrex launched a Warp at the creature's back, tearing away large patches of flesh, but doing little damage overall.

Slowly, the creature got up, using its claw as a crutch, and lashed out once more at the nearest Covenant warrior. This time, a couple Krogan and a Sangheili were caught in its swipe and were sent crashing into the wall, creating a wet, sickening crunching sound upon impact, confirming their deaths. The Flood Form got up once more, and was met with a plasma grenade sticking to its face. Igniting, the grenade tore off a large chunk of the monster's lower 'jaw', leaving a dangling chunk of rotten flesh hanging.

* * *

Wrex launched another Warp into the creature's chest, further tearing away at large bits of flesh and bone, revealing sickly decayed innards inside. Kolre pressed forward and fired into the chest cavity with his Plasma Repeater, blowing off even more large chunks of the monster's chest. The Flood form continued lashing out at everything around it, the damage becoming too much for it to withstand. Another Sangheili was struck by the monster's claw, slicing him in half and sending his two halves scattering across the room.

Kolre snarled and pressed forward, priming a plasma grenade in one hand while igniting his sword in another. Dodging another swipe, he launched himself onto the creature face and tossed the grenade into its gullet. Moving to jump off, he was suddenly caught by the creature via his leg, and was slammed into the floor hard. Several ribs were broken from the impacted, a shoulder was dislocated, and Kolre's breath was knocked out of him, yet he found the strength to focus and slice off the Flood Forms arm, dismembering it and sending him across the other side of the elevator shaft.

He slammed hard into the corner edge of the shaft, but somehow was able to grab onto the ledge with his free hand.

The grenade exploded inside the monster, ripping out massive chunks and lurching the screaming creature backwards into the elevator shaft. The monstrous Flood Form fell backwards and down into the darkness below, its pained bellows echoing down.

* * *

_"Shit! Kolre!" _Wrex shouted as he and the other surviving Covenant warriors ran around the elevator shaft to rescue their companion. Kolre's grip, however, was loosening and started to slip, as Sangheili weren't designed for climbing.

_"Hold on! Just hold on!" _Wrex, visibly exhausted himself, pushed his body to it's limit as he rushed towards the wounded Sangheili. Even if the two were known to bicker and butt heads, that didn't mean Wrex didn't respect the Sangheili General as a warrior. In truth, he was probably the only non-Krogan warrior he would have ever allowed to be part of his Krantt, if he had one.

The last thing he wanted to see was such a damn good warrior die a stupid death.

Kolre could be heard groaning in pain as he tried to hold out. With his other arm disabled, he wouldn't be able to pull himself up without assistance. Just from the look of that hit he had sustained, he had to be in tremendous amount of pain right now. _"W-Wrex..."_

_"We're almost to ya. Just hold out!" _

Wrex charged forward and dove to grab Kolre's hand, but just as he was about to, the Sangheili's muscles betrayed him. The two warriors locked eyes as Kolre's grip finally slipped and he was sent plummeting down the shaft, into the darkness below. Wrex reached out to grab him, but knew it was pointless.

_"General!" _One of the Sangheili called out, as the others reached the spot. All of them looked down the shaft where their Commander had fallen. Wrex snarled, berating himself for not being quicker, but knew there was no point dwelling on it. They still needed to get out of here and warn the fleet, if others hadn't already.

* * *

_"What do we do now?" _A Sangheili spoke, his head lowered out of respect for his fallen Commander.

Wrex walked over and called the elevator down. Looking back at the group, he spoke, _"We do what he told us to. Survive. Escape. Get up top and warn the fleet so they can blast this floating deathtrap." _As the elevator came down to a stop, the surviving Krogan walked onto the elevator, eager to get the hell out.

The Sangheili, however, seemed hesitant, almost unsure of what to do. Wrex could tell they wanted to go look for their Commander, but they also all knew that it would get them all killed if they did. Wrex decided to speak once more, _"Honor his sacrifice... by fulfilling his last order."_

The Sangheili looked at one another, each of them deeping in thought. Looking back at one another, they began to nod in agreement, before walking onto the elevator. With everyone aboard, Wrex pressed the button and the elevator began the long descent up to the surface, leaving the group time with their thoughts.

They all reminisced about the comrades that had died down there. Their brothers-in-arms that fell in battle against the relentless and fearsome enemy that now plagued this place. At least they had a moment now to honor the dead and their sacrifice.

However brief it was.

* * *

**_07.27.2122  
_****_Local Cluster  
_****_Sol System  
_****_Armstrong City, Luna  
_****_Luna Naval Academy_**

"Alright, everyone, make sure you study for the test friday. Remember, the Terra Nova and Jovian Moon Campaigns will be on the test. Thank you, and have a good day." Cole spoke aloud to the crowd of dispersing students as his final class for the day ended. As the students all left the classroom, Cole took a moment to take a seat at his desk and take a drink of his water mug. As much as he would rather be drinking whiskey or some good old bourbon, Campus rules prohibited Alcohol during work hours, which meant he could only drink when he got back to his apartment. That, and he wasn't a big fan of Coffee.

Though he will admit, the job wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, that didn't mean it wasn't hectic at times. While he could supposedly choose a different career path, he had promised to work this job as a naval instructor for 3 more years. In return, he was allowed two things. One, to provide insight and advice on the future of the navy and what direction it needed to take in order for maximum efficiency, due to his decades of experience with everything regarding the navy.

The second, he didn't have to return to naval service save for if humanity encountered an alien faction. A hostile one, at that.

* * *

In a sense, he had more pull in the navy than most of the senior staff did, without being a member of it. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the career he had built up serving in the UNSC Navy. But after seeing and fighting a genocidal war for so long, even the hardiest of men get tired of seeing so much death. He had wanted out, he had wanted to start over, away from all the fighting and away from all the death.

And maybe just reconnect with an old flame in his life.

But fate, a cruel mistress, decided to throw him a curveball. And now, he was here. Wherever _h__ere _was. A different galaxy, hell maybe a different dimension for all he knew. All he knew however, was that now, he would likely never see any of his family ever again. Were they okay? Were they even alive? There were questions that were now likely never going to get answered.

* * *

"So how's the college life treating you, Sir?" He suddenly heard a voice from behind, knowing exactly who it belonged to.

He turned around and was greeted with the sight of his old friend, Admiral James Cutter, now the commander of the 1st Fleet. Dressed in his grey BDU, the Admiral walked up to his old friend and the two gave each a firm handshake.

"Fine, Admiral. Just fine. Shouldn't I be the one calling you Sir?" Cole joked as they both walked back to his desk, taking a seat as they continued their chat.

"Admiral, as far as me and the rest of the UNSC personnel are concerned, you'll always be our superior officer." Cutter replied. Cole chuckled at this, knowing just how true the statement was. The level of respect and authority he commanded was ridiculous as times, to him anyway.

"So, why are you here today, Cutter?" Cole questioned as he took a sip from his water mug.

"What? I can't say hello to an old friend?" Cutter teased as he leaned back in the chair.

"Not at all. I just figured you weren't just here for a social visit."

"Well... you're right." Cutter replied, this time all the joking and carefreeness in his voice was completely gone. Cole looked at him, awaiting whatever it was Cutter came here to see him for.

"Admiral, the Systems Alliance Navy wants to reinstate you into the Navy temporarily..."

"I knew it!" Cole exclaimed, infuriated that the Systems Alliance would try to go back on its deal. He leaned back in his chair, a scowl on his face.

"Admiral..." Cutter began, but got cut off by Cole.

"They couldn't get me to join the first time so now they send in fellow UNSC to try to persuade me!" Cole continued, standing up and walking around the table, attempting to vent some of growing anger that was building up.

"Admiral..." Cutter tried again, but Cole wasn't having any of it.

"I bet they also want me to..."

"Admiral, we've located a signal from a UNSC Transponder!" Cutter basically yelled at his former Commanding Officer.

Cole stopped his rant and looked at the SA Vice Admiral. They found another UNSC Ship? This had Cole wondering himself. This would be the third time that UNSC equipment has ended up... wherever here is. Not only that, but they were both rather close to Humanity's homeworld. It seemed almost as if this was by design or something.

"Is there an ID to go with it?"

"That's the thing, Admiral." Cutter paused, unsure how Cole was going to handle what's about to be revealed.

"The transponder... it identified itself as the UNSC Bellicose."

* * *

**Hey guys, sure has been a while! Took a little longer than I thought it would, I'm trying a new strategy of working on three chapters (For three different stories) at once in order to speed things up. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next installment. Just so you know, there are only 2 more chapters for Altered Destiny. Book 2, First Contact, will probably begin in very early 2016, depending on how far along I come along in my other stories. (Even if you're not a fan of the other fandoms, I'd still recommend checking them out and letting me know what you thought of them.)**

**Oh yeah, I'm currently interested in perhaps co-writing a story if anyone is interested. That and if there are any of you fans out there with an artistic eye out there, give me a shout and contact me. I'm actually looking for people to draw a few character designs I have built up. (Cause I suck at drawing lol.) Anyway, again, if you're interested in either one, I'd love to hear from you.**

**See you next time.**

**-Azores**


	9. Every Great Journey

***Written on Jan 1st*  
Hey guys, Azores here. Before the chapter starts, I just wanted to say thanks for all the support that's been given to this story. Since, this story's first chapter was published there have been some 107,811 views. (And ironically, has been added to 7 Communities.)**

**...I'm not gonna lie. I never thought I'd have a story this popular. I kinda started this off as just a little side hobby that I thought I would move on from after a couple months, but after seeing all the support and feedback I'm getting from everyone, (Apparently, I don't suck at writing as much as I thought I did, lol.) it's made me just want to keep writing more. The problem is, I'm honestly making this up as I go. I'm trying to make this story as good as possible for your sake, which in turn causes delays in when each chapter is published. **

**But, I must be doing something right cause you all keep coming back for more. Regardless, I just wanted to say thank you all for the support and I look forward to providing more for you. **

**-Azores**

* * *

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.27.2122)  
**__**Terminus Systems  
Hoc System  
Virmire  
New Charity; Council Chambers**_

_"When was this discovered?!" _Hurok demanded, as he continued to overlook the data regarding a planet that, according to Rallen's offspring, was home to several billion members of the Covenant. Sangheili, Kig-yar, and Mgalekgolo to be precise. Though he was very much pleased that they had found others, to say he was shocked would be more accurate.

Jani'Rallen, was pleased with herself, knowing she had done extremely well. _"As I said, Noble Hierarch, this was only discovered a few hours ago. I spent the last couple hours confirming its authenticity. After making sure that the data was indeed accurate, I knew I needed to show you this right away." _

_"We need to get to them right away. The sooner we bring them back into the folds of the Covenant, the better chance we have surviving a future war with the Council." _Hurok replied, his eyes fixed on the hologram of the planet.

Quarian Hierarch Dullen'Rallen, however, didn't like that statement. _"Hierarch Wattinree, surely there's no need for a war with the Citadel."_

_"It's not a matter of if we want one or not. I honestly would prefer it if the Citadel Races would mind their own business and leave us be, but with the Council's mindset, it's only a matter of time before a war erupts between us." _Hurok commented, looking back at his fellow Hierarch. _"Make no mistake, my friend. War is coming. One on a scale not seen in a long time. And when it does, I will personally glass that floating space station that they are so fond of."_

_"N-Noble Hierarch, I believe that we're getting off subject." _Jani replied. It was moments like this that made Jani nervous around the Sangheili Hierarch. That flatout disregard for the enemy's civilian life. If there was one thing she had learned about the Sangheili in her time working with them, was that when it came to war, everyone was a potential enemy. It reminded her of the Turian mindset for war, just much more ferocious.

Noticing the Quarian's discomfort, Hurok spoke, _"Calm yourself, young one. I do not intend to start any conflict. Though we pride ourselves as warriors, Sangheili do not go actively seeking a fight unless it is with good reason. Plus, you are correct. We are getting off subject."_

Nodding, Jani spoke up, _"Right. Well, according to the data, Sacred Refuge is roughly 12,000 Light-years from Virmire, situated roughly between the Attican Beta and the Nubian Expanse. If we sent a fleet to those coordinates from our bases or colonies in Attican Beta, we could reach it in roughly a week's time."_

_"But we can't afford to weaken our fleet strengths in the Attican Beta. It's one of the 3 Relays that lead to Virmire." _Rallen replied, crossing his arms.

_"True, but we also cannot afford to delay. We must establish contact as soon as possible. Therefore, tomorrow I shall lead a Battlegroup from Virmire to this planet and establish contact." _Hurok declared. He turned to look back at the hologram of Jani'Rallen.

_"Scientist, is there anything else that needs to be shared at the moment?" _

_"A few things, but with respect, I would prefer to go over and verify the data before I send it to you. It shou-n't tak-" _The hologram started to cut out, Jani's voice becoming staticy. There was suddenly a loud noise from the hologram's end. The hologram flinched and looked around, _"Wh-t's goi- o-? We'-" _The signal suddenly cut out, the hologram winking out of existence.

_"Scientist?/Jani?!"_ Both Hierarchs spoke, confused as to what just happened. Rallen began tapping on his Omni-tool, attempting to reestablish the connection and contact whoever was in charge of long-range communications_. _Hurok looked over to Rallen, _"Rallen, what's going on?" _

_"It's not us." _Rallen replied as he continued to type on his Omni-tool, _"It must be something on their end. All our communication relays are operating fine." _

_"They're under attack." _Hurok muttered out, loud enough though to have Rallen hear him. The Quarian's blood went cold. Several Sangheili Honor Guards came into the room, wondering what the disturbance was.

Snarling, Hurok turned to the Honor Guard leader and roared out, _"Get into contact with the closest Fleet near the Fathar System, now! We cannot allow the Archive to be destroyed or lost!" _

The Honor Guard leader turned and ran back out with a couple guardsmen. _"I don't understand. Who would be stupid enough to attack a one of our Outpost, even if it's under strength?" _Rallen questioned as he typed a few more commands into his Omni-tool.

Turning to him, Hurok growled out, _"I know exactly who it is. And they are going to burn for it." _The Quarian could see a look of pure rage in the Sangheili's eyes. That alone, sent a shiver done his spine.

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.27.2122)  
**__**Terminus Systems  
Hoc System  
Virmire  
New Charity; New Rannoch District nearing Muloqt District**_

If one was to describe the city life and architecture of New Charity, it could best be described as multicultural, as well as culturally divided. Cultural influence from all species of the Covenant could be found in the architecture of the City, ranging from Sangheili, Unggoy, Kig-yar and such. Sections of the city had become divided into their own little sections, with each one have a dominant culture and population of a certain species. One such example is Sanghelios District, which was primarily a large Sangheili District, as well as the main Sangheili District in New Charity, complete with a Sangheili Keep and buildings typical of a Sangheili world. Wattin Keep, the keep inside Sanghelios District, was a large keep founded by members of the Wattin Clan in the Fleet of Divine Fury, though the District has several Sangheili Clans and Families living within it.

Another massive District that had become rather well known was New Rannoch District, where some 18% of the entire Quarian Population called home. In the center of the District, one of the three Liveships that once provided food and supplies for the entire Migrant Fleet, now provided those same services for the Quarian population of New Charity as well as the entire Quarian Population of Virmire with the other two Liveships. Here was where many Quarian customs and traditions, long lost and abandoned after the Quarians' exile into space by the Geth, have been given new life as for the first time in several centuries, the Quarian population was rising steadily and a desire to reclaim the heritage that's been lost by the Quarians had taken grasp of most of the Quarian population. Because of this, the Quarian's Pilgrimage, which had been largely the norm for nearly 250 years, was now quickly becoming an uncommon occurrence amongst the Quarians.

* * *

For Lieutenant Yulren'Hamr, formerly Yulren'Lovik, who was riding in his squad's Type-29 Shadow APC /Troop Carrier Variant\ towards Muloqt District, a Kig-yar District, this had become his new life. Ever since that fateful encounter with the Covenant 17 years ago, his life had done a complete turn around. And his opinion, for the better. He had a new found fire lit inside him, a desire to not only to protect his people, but to also excel and show the galaxy that the Quarians were back on the rise, thanks to their friends in the Covenant. If it hadn't been for them, they would most likely still be travelling the galaxy in the Migrant Fleet. Because of Kolre Uzinaree, he had found his own courage. The two had both taken part in many missions together over the years, with Kolre and the other Spec-Ops Sangheili acting as mentors of sorts.

Thanks to Kolre, not only did he find within himself courage and experience, he had also helped the Quarians gained an ally, and himself a friend.

And then, 4 years ago, his unit was reassigned to be a military police unit stationed on Virmire. For the next 8 months afterwards, they underwent retraining in order to adjust back into a more civilian lifestyle. Though he was somewhat disappointed that he would no longer be working alongside his friend, the rotation to what was basically a policeman with military gear was a rather nice change of pace, plus neither he nor his wife and three kids could complain about the large pay raise he received after being promoted to Lieutenant.

* * *

While still recognized as a part of the military, the Quarian Marines had largely been repurposed as a military police force, enforce law and order throughout the Covenant and its colonies. Only about 5% of the Quarian Marines are still active in frontline service of the Covenant Military, most of those being special forces units. The Covenant were more concerned about losing a valuable engineering asset to their hegemony, as Quarians had proven time and time again to be some of the best engineers in the galaxy, save for the Huragok.

With their help, the Covenant have recovered strength far faster than they ever would have by themselves, now that the guidance and knowledge of the San Shyuum was no longer available to them. This was the problem of coming to rely on one species for handling everyday life management, such as farming, construction, etc. Thankfully for them, the Quarians were able to fill that gap to a degree, and now the other members of the Covenant were relearning how to conduct everyday tasks. Though it was a slow and gruelling process, the Covenant were slowly back on the rise. But their biggest problem was still the issue of population.

* * *

_'Demois Squad, this is HQ, over.' _

_"HQ, this is Demois Squad. Go ahead, over." _

_'Demois Squad, we have reports of Kig-yar clan fighting going on in Muloqt District, over.'_

_"Ah, Bosh'tet." _Lovik muttered, knowing that they were now more than likely getting ready to enter a firefight. The other Quarians in the Shadow heard it as well.

Kig-yar could end up being alot of things, but one could never seem to remove the Bandit/Pirate Heritage from the Kig-yar altogether. And Muloqt District was notorious for the numerous gangs and hostile Kig-yar clans that inhabited it. If a human were have visited Muloqt District, they would have most likely compared it to early-mid 21st Century Mogadishu, Somalia. Drugs, violence, and clan warfare were all typical of the District, so much so that the Hierarchs had permanently stationed a Covenant Spec Ops Unit in New Charity in order to help crack down on the District.

_"Roger, HQ. How bad is it, over?"_

_'Confirmed shots fired, moderate collateral damage. We've already requested two other units to move in for assistance, over.'_

_"Roger, HQ. We're moving in, out." _

With the comms going silent, his Omni-tool suddenly opened and showed a map with his location and the destination in Muloqt District. Closing it, he then looked over his gear, an environmental suit made of the same alloys as the Sangheili's armor, and his weapons, which consisted of a Type-52 Carbine, a Batarian Terminator Assault Rifle he picked up nearly a decade ago, and an M-3 Predator Heavy Pistol, standard issue amongst the Quarian Forces. He also had a stun-gun and restraint equipment for criminal apprehension. The other Quarians were checking their own gear as well, prepping for what they knew was going to be a firefight.

_"Okay, so everyone here has either heard the stories or have been to Muloqt District beforehand. Therefore, I shouldn't have to tell any of you just how dangerous Muloqt District is. When we depart the Shadow, find cover immediately and watch your backs. Don't trust a single Kig-yar in this District. Understood?"_

A chorus of _"Yes, sir." _rang out from the 11 other soldiers in the vehicle, as their vehicle turned a corner, entering the Muloqt District. Almost immediately, they heard the sounds of gunfire echoing further down the street, indicating that the Kig-yar clans were already going at it. Outside, civilians of several different species were fleeing the fighting.

As their vehicle slowed down, the sound of bullets pinging and splashing off the Shadow's hull could be heard, as well as the gunner up top firing with the Shadow's Type-42 DESW. _"Get ready! When the door opens, run to the nearest cover." _Yulren shouted back to his fellow Quarians as they all braced themselves. They could hear several Kig-yar yelling and screeching outside, gunfire all about.

The doors quickly slid open, and the Quarians all rushed out, bullets flying all around them. Yulren and a couple other Quarians slid into cover behind a civilian model Revenant, popping out to get a look at the scene. There must have been some 50 or so Kig-yar in the streets firing across the street at one another or clashing in the streets with various melee weapons, with many more in the buildings firing away as well. Several more laid dead or dying in the streets. He could see the clan markings and coloring of three major clans that all resided in Muloqt District. The Rin, Thor, and Zur Clans. All of which were known drug dealers, smugglers, and thieves.

_"Looks like they all decided to eliminate their competition."_ A Quarian Marine spoke as he pop out of cover and fired a burst from his Assault Rifle. Yulren grunted in annoyance,_ "We've already got our hands full with the Moz'Zhun Syndicate, last thing we need is another one rising up." _

A trio of Kig-yars advanced on their position, firing away with Plasma Pistols and a Needler Rifle. Yulren stood up and fired a burst from his Terminator Rifle at the Kig-yar with the Needler Rifle, dropping the avian with quick succession before returning to cover. The other two Kig-yar dove into cover. The Quarian next to Yulren tossed an electric-stun grenade at the two Kig-yar, an electric discharge reaching out and shocking the two Kig-yar unconscious.

Yulren looked back and saw that the Shadow's gunner was still firing away at the Kig-yar positions, as two other Shadows were driving up behind it, unloading their own contingencies of Quarian Marines. Some of the Kig-yar turned their attention to the encroaching Quarians, firing the various Plasma and Mass Effect weapons they had. The Quarians returned fire, and both sides began to take casualties as they exchanged fire with one another. The Quarian next to Yulren was already typing into his Omni-tool requesting for more reinforcements at their location.

Yulren cursed under his breath, as he pop out of cover again and fired several controlled burst at a group of Kig-yar. This was going to be a long day for them.

* * *

**_07.29.2122  
_****_Local Cluster; Outer Colonies  
Draco System  
Draco IV_**

When the Alliance colonized their 14th Star System in 2115, the Alliance Parliament proposed dividing the colonies into two separate orders, the 'Inner' and 'Outer' Colonies. The setup of this system was every Star System within 10 Parsecs (32.61 Light-years) of the Sol System were to be colonized and established as Alliance territory, which totaled up to some 414 Star Systems that could become potential colonies. All systems that were within 6.15 Parsecs (20 Light-years) of Sol were considered 'Inner' Colonies, with totaled up to potentially 150 Systems minus Sol. The other Systems outside of this sphere were to be represented as the 'Outer' Colonies. The idea was that this would allow the colonies to be more easily managed by the Systems Alliance.

This, however, didn't stop some colonist from setting up colonies further away from the established Alliance territory, setting up what are called 'Frontier Colonies'. As a Frontier Colony, which were typically further away from Sol than most, the Alliance had less influence and authority on these worlds. Some of which, became havens for Insurrectionist and Terrorist Organizations because of this lack of influence. Though the Alliance were doing their best to counter the growing threat of the Insurrectionist, the Alliance Military simply didn't have the numbers, both in soldiers and ships, to be everywhere at once.

* * *

Draco IV, in the Draco System, was a Frontier Colony and the furthest Colony from Sol, lying some 46 Light-years from the Sol System. Formally know as 26 Draconis throughout the 21st century before being officially surveyed in 2113, the Draco System was colonized back in 2114, due to it's large quantities of heavy metals and alloys that dotted the System. Originally colonized by settlers mostly of Iranian descent, Draco IV was found to be a foreboding world to colonize, it's dull charcoal-colored surface nor the Triple Star Orbit, which resulted in temperatures averaging from 100-155*F, not helping promote the image of a colony friendly world. The atmosphere was somewhat breathable with the help of a rebreather, however large scale terraforming operations had to commence if the planet would be able to support any significant scales of life. Water is incredible scarce and typically found in large underground springs, which results in very minor plant life, and the largest native lifeforms on the surface are no larger than a housecat. Almost every colony on Draco save for mining and industrial complexes had biodomes to provide breathable atmospheres for the 24 million colonists that called Draco IV home.

* * *

Draco IV was a known haven for Innies and Terrorist alike, particularly one group of extremists called the Federal Islamic Republic of Draco, a subgroup of the larger United Islamic Revolutionaries. The UIR, who were founded back in 2109, are considered by many to be the succession of the Islamic Terrorism that plagued the Middle East back in the early 21st Century, having been linked to numerous attacks and bombings throughout Alliance Space, including the infamous Jovian Moons Campaign. Having grown in strength over the years throughout the colonial sector, they began to branch off and create proxy groups in which to further their goals within the Alliance, namely of which is the unification of Humanity under an Islamic Caliphate in the name of Mohammed and Allah. This is the reason why FIRD, one of those proxy groups under the UIR, was created.

Founded back in 2118 by various extremist factions on Draco IV, FIRD has been linked to numerous attacks and bombings not only in the Draco System, but other nearby colonies as well. And now, the Alliance was receiving reports that FIRD was planning a coup on the local Government of Draco. If that happened, then Draco IV would turn into a UIR Fortress and breeding ground. Despite the significant number of Alliance Troops on Draco IV, they had been unable to dislodge FIRD or the UIR off Draco IV.

Which is why Alliance Command sent in their best to eliminate the threat. Spartan Red Team.

* * *

**_Malaraz Station, Draco IV  
Market District_**

_'Spartan Team Lead, this is SSV-Oliver Cromwell, what's your status, over?'_

"SSV-Cromwell, this Sierra-092, we've touched down and have infiltrated Malaraz Station via the Market's back alleyways, over." Jerome-092 spoke as the three-man Spartan team moved through the market's back alleyways, their experimental cloaking units, which were largely reversed engineered from Covenant cloaking units, kept them hidden from the naked eye.

_'Understood, Sierra-092. Proceed with mission. Out.'_

Out on the main streets, the Spartans could see numerous people going about their everyday lives, a large number of which were dressed in Arabic-styled clothing and garments. Various stores selling all kinds of goods dotted the streets, ranging from household items to firearms. Hundreds of people clogged the streets, walking about to their destinations, completely oblivious to the 3-man team of Super Soldiers that were nearby.

* * *

Malaraz Station was just one of many stations that dotted Draco IV's surface. Roughly 90 miles South of the Planet's Capital, Salifar, the station of roughly 19,000 was a small mountain community, set up as a waypoint between the capital and another major settlement, Omidan, 45 miles to the station's East. Numerous markets and small factories made up the majority of the settlement, though some of the largest buildings were the two Mosques, whose large, decorative pillars rose up some six stories into the sky. Stations like this made perfect hideouts for insurgents and rebels, who would often use these places as meeting points.

Red Team, however, weren't here to eliminate the insurgent presence inside the town.

Moreover, Red Team's mission was to link up with another group of agents on the ground, one who's been tracking the movements of any key figureheads within the FIRD, and find their main base of operations for several weeks. From there, they would eliminate the site and any of the local leadership that was on site. If this mission succeeds, then FIRD's, and in essence the UIR's, influence and grasp on Draco IV would be heavily reduced, and the various factions that made up FIRD would shatter with their uniting factor severed.

* * *

"How much further to the rendezvous?" Alice-130 questioned as she sweeped another alleyway to her left before continuing forward with the other two Spartans.

"About 200 meters in one of the industrial warehouses." Douglas-042 replied. Despite being camouflaged, the Spartans were careful not to make any movement that would draw attention towards them. The last thing they needed was the town's militants coming after them, as this would immediately alert the FIRD to their presence and cause their leaders to scatter.

"Did Command tell us who the contact was?" Douglas asked Jerome.

"Negative, didn't want to blow the operatives' cover if FIRD found a way to listen in. All they said was that the operative had been able to track down the location of FIRD's main stronghold on Draco IV, and supposedly the base had the location of other FIRD's other two strongholds." Jerome replied.

"So then, we find this base and it'll lead us to the other FIRD strongholds in the mountains." Alice spoke.

"And that'll be one step closer to eliminating the UIR altogether." Douglas summed up.

"Right, so it's imperative that we find this operative and locate the facility ASAP." Jerome finished, as Red Team rounded a corner and came upon several large warehouses lined up next to one another. Taking cover behind some crates, they could see a few workers and guards walking and working on various things and machinery. Several of the workers were loading up several large crates and machinery onto several large trucks, each with the logo and name 'Morad-Sadiq Industries' on the sides of them.

* * *

"Morad-Sadiq Industries?" Douglas questioned, noting the cargo trucks as he scanned their surroundings.

"Pakistani-based Corporation, specializing in the Industrial and Manufacturing Sector, with some degree of terraforming tech. Most of the development on Draco IV was done by them. They've secured a couple contracts for Alliance Military for shipbuilding, hence why there's a Shipyard here on Draco IV." Alice replied, looking over the Tac-pad built into her arm's armor.

"I see. So, anyone else getting the feeling that we should be suspicious of those crates and machinery?" Douglas replied.

"Agreed, but we'll deal with that later. We need to locate the contact." Jerome finished, as he stood up and moved towards one of the warehouses as he scanned an open door with his MA5C, before motioning his teammates to move up behind him.

They entered the warehouse, which was full of crates, construction vehicles, and even a couple Cyclops Exoskeletons Units, as well as a massive cargo container with its doors open, already halfway loaded up. But what was suspicious about some of the gear was that none of them were marked. All the other equipment outside had the Morad-Sadiq logo on them, but these were devoid of any markings whatsoever. Which meant they might have located some equipment that was planned for use by FIRD.

"This is the warehouse. Mark a few of these crates. They may be going to the insurgents." Jerome ordered, as they all decloaked their camo.

* * *

"No need." The three Spartans immediately turned to the source of the sound, weapons drawn. The source of the signal was a 8-man team of men, all dressed in military hardware and gear. The lead soldier stepped up and spoke again, "We've already marked them. Alliance Spec Ops?"

The Spartans slowly lowered their weapons and ease up. "Affirmative." Jerome replied.

Nodding, the lead soldier walked towards the Spartans, his men spreading out and watching the doors to the room. "Artyom Chkonia, Sergeant Major. Blue Suns Security. This is my team, Fireteam Razor." Artyom jerked his head back to his squad.

"Blue Suns? New group of Mercs or something?" Douglas questioned, the distaste in his voice evident that he didn't approve of the Alliance setting up Private Security groups.

"We're not Mercs." one of the Blue Suns growled, "We're bound by the Rules and Regulations of the Alliance Military just like you are."

"Were you able to locate FIRD's stronghold, SGM?" Jerome quickly asked, deciding to get back on subject before they got into an argument, but not before giving Douglas a glance. Douglas got the hint and backed off immediately.

It appeared to work, as Artyom, with a sigh, replied, "No, but we've learned that several of these warehouses, and from what we figure several others places as well, send supplies and gear to wherever their base is."

"The best course of action, then, would be to hitch a ride on one of these shipments and then sneak into the stronghold." Alice spoke.

"And then pop the signal and let the Alliance clean house. Simple as that." Artyom spoke, as he lifted his FN-82A2/SOCOM onto his right shoulder.

"Tch, not likely. Knowing our luck." Douglas joked.

"How are they transporting the supplies to the base?" Alice asked.

"They're using massive cargo containers and ferrying them somewhere via large trucks." A Blue Suns Operatives spoke. "They send them out by at least a dozen at a time every few days."

"Any unusual flights in the area?" Jerome questioned.

"No, none in the direction that those trucks go, the mountains are heavily magnetized, which screws with the sensors and makes aerial navigation damn near impossible. It's why they use trucks instead of aircraft."

"Good chance the Stronghold's underground then. Less chance of being discovered by anyone looking for them." Alice commented.

* * *

They suddenly heard voices and movement from outside getting closer to one of the doors. The Blue Suns Operatives all made their way into the cargo container, while the Spartans activated their camo once more. As soon as they disappeared from the naked eye, several men entered the warehouse, some carrying crates, other looking around with guns in their hands. Everyone of them were speaking Arabic or Persian, but the Spartans and Blue Suns' Universal Translators built into their helmets allowed them to understand the men perfectly.

"Is this the last of it?" One of the armed men spoke.

"Yes." A crate carrier replied.

"Good. Finish loading up the goods into the cargo container. I'll call Khan and inform him we're on our way." The armed soldier spoke once more, before turning to leave. The other personnel went about inspecting crates and moving various items both inside and outside the warehouse.

As the soldiers listened in, Jerome heard Artyom's voice over the comms, "Did that guy just say Khan? As in Mohammed Bedario Khan?"

"Yeah." Jerome whispered.

* * *

Mohammed Bedario Khan, known by his followers as 'Ghengis' Khan, was a notorious and infamous terrorist. One of seven leaders of the UIR, as well as the leader of FIRD, the Egyptian-native is a ruthless and cunning tactician, owed to by his time as a Major General for the Colonial Guards' Egypt Corps, before his defection back in 2112. Since then, he has been the mastermind behind numerous attacks, bombings, and massacres, so many, that the Alliance has him placed at number 3 on their list of the 10 most wanted criminals.

* * *

"If Khan is here..." One of the Blue Suns Operatives muttered under his breath.

"Then our mission has changed to high value assassination." Alice spoke up. The Spartans made their way, slowly, over to the container.

"Shit. And this mission was already going to be difficult enough as it was. Now this. Fuck." Artyom cursed.

The Spartans made their way, stealthily, into the container with the Blue Suns Operatives, then proceeded to stack a few crates in front to conceal them before several workers came over, each carrying boxes of various tools and equipment. The Draconian natives outside continued to carry out their work, oblivious to the Alliance Operatives inside the container they were loading up.

"I guess our only option now is to sit tight and see where this thing takes us." One of the Blue Suns spoke.

Jerome looked back at her and nodded. While they could easily fight their way out if needed, doing so would result in FIRD immediately being alerted to their presence, and their best chance at eliminating one of the most wanted men in the Alliance wasted. No, all they could do now was wait and see where this took them.

As the container's doors were closed and the sound of clamps being attached to the sides could be heard, they did the only thing they could do at that moment. Sit back and enjoy the ride. And make ready for whatever was awaiting them.

* * *

_**24th Age of Doubt (07.31.2122)**__**  
**__**Terminus Systems**__**  
Jerlys System, 8,700 Light Years North of Lorek  
**__**Inside Forerunner**_**_ Facility orbiting _**_**Gas Giant Zulzirk**_

Darkness. That was all he saw at first. Nothing but a dark, blurry vision. He could hear, faintly, some voices around him, but they sounded so distant, so far away. His body shook slightly in a slow but constant motion, removing some of the grogginess from his mind. The room around him was still so dark, he could barely see what was around him. At that moment, though, there was one thing he knew for certain.

Somehow, Kolre Uzinaree was still alive. Broken and battered, but alive. But he might not for much longer.

Memories quickly returned to him, reminding him of where he was and what was happening. The Archive on Lorek. The STG. The Facility. The _Flood._ He remembered it all now. He was on a Forerunner Facility that was now getting overrun by Flood due to the Salarians' foolishness. And now, he was in the belly of the beast.

The grogginess that plagued quickly replaced itself with alertness, as Kolre tried to figure out why his whole body shook occasionally. At that moment, he noticed that the room was moving slightly, before realizing it wasn't the room moving, but him. Something was dragging him. He looked up, expecting to see a Flood Form dragging him to whatever oblivion, but was surprised.

Instead of Flood Creatures, he saw a trio of Salarian STG dragging him, whispering amongst themselves. Though surprised they had somehow survived, he disregarded it immediately. There were more pressing matters, such as finding a way out of here. He struggled to move, but pain quickly overwhelmed him. While his spirit was still full of fight, the same couldn't be said for his body.

He heard one of the STG speak, _"Why would the Enlighten One wish to speak to him?" _he could hear the disdain in his voice when referring to him.

_"He wishes to spread the truth to this one as he has with us. Who are we to question it?" _another one replied.

* * *

Kolre looked up and looked at the Salarians. He noticed something about them. Physically, there wasn't anything wrong with them. They didn't look infected at least, but something felt _off _about them. Like they weren't right in the head or something. The way they looked around the room or the way they whispered to one another. It was extremely off putting, and if he dare admit, just outright disturbing somewhat. Something was definitely wrong with them.

As sensing his discomfort, one of the Salarian's looked down and smiled at him. By the gods, the smile was even more off putting than the other stuff.

_"Don't worry, he wishes to merely speak with you and spread the light of his wisdom."_

Kolre just looked at him dumbfounded. Speak with him? What the hell was he talking about? Who?

_"What? What are you-" _

Before he could finish his sentence, they went through a door and entered a massive room. The size and scale of it was incredible, lights dancing around the room. Numerous geometric shapes and designs decorated it, but only one thing in the room had Kolre's attention at that time. The massive... thing in the center of the room, along with some 11 other Salarians in front of it, some whispering, others bowing to it.

Immediately, his mind thought Flood. It had the look of one. It was hideous, 'standing' 15 meters tall, with limbs bent at unnatural angles, the bodily shape of what he could only describe as a sort of crustacean, and eight tiny glowing eyes, all of them looking right at him. At least, that's what he thought.

* * *

_"We have brought him as you have asked, Enlightened One." _The Salarian said almost too happily. Kolre was set onto the ground before the massive being.

_"So... our plan has succeeded after all? Excellent, Mendicant... you have done well with your choice." _the being spoke, not even regarding the Salarian that had just spoken to it.

Plan? Mendicant? What was this thing talking about?

_"Now... it is time... for us to conduct the second part..." _the being continued. It looked down at Kolre, almost looking like it was studying him. Kolre himself was trying to figure if this thing was Flood or... something else.

_"Sangheili... your presence here was not by chance... you are here... by our design..."_

_"Either kill me or leave me be, Parasite! Do not waste my time with talk!" _Kolre snapped, having enough of this. If the parasite's plan was to talk him to death, then it was working. Considering all that's happened today, he's lost the ability for patience.

_"There... is much talk to be had... killing you... would be counterproductive... especially after all the trouble... we went through to arrange this... Kolre Uzinaree..."_

That gave the Sangheili pause. _"What do you mean? How do you know my name?"_

_"My power is beyond your comprehension... a billion lifetimes of knowledge and wisdom flow within me... learning of your kind through Mendicant Bias... was mere child's play, as the saying goes..." _the being spoke, it's voice deep and resonating.

_"What... are you?" _Kolre hesitantly asked, feeling incredibly small at the moment as this thing seemed to tower over him.

_"I... am among the last of those... who gave life to many across the universe... those who gave life to the Forerunners... I am what they called a Precursor..."_

_"Lies! The Forerunners are gods! To say that they were created by such impure and fiendish creatures as yourself is heresy!" _Kolre spat out, disgusted by this being's claim.

_"Gods, you say... do you honestly believe that?" _

The question caught the Sangheili warrior off guard. _"Of course I do! I am a devout follower of the Great Journey and-"_

_"You're lying... I can sense it... the doubt... ever since you've arrived here... it has festered in your mind... the years passing by... and the lack of your... gods' relics... only adding to the doubt that plagues it..."_

_"S-Silence! I will not be questioned on my loyalty and faith by a Parasite of all things!" _

_"And when... did I ever say... I was one of the Flood?" _

Despite his injuries, Kolre did his best to stand up. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to die on his back like some helpless Unggoy. He was going to die fighting if anything. He rose slightly on one elbow, before the pain was simply too much and caused him to toppled back down. With labored breaths, he looked around the room and noticed that the Salarians had quietly stood by and watch the entire time.

_"Though they are... similar to me... we are not one in the same... they were once Precursor... but now are tainted... impure... corrupted..." _It's voice rumbling at the last word, echoing across the room. The Precursor slowly made it's way over towards Kolre, who did his best to rise, only to fail once more. The massive being grasped him with its arms and lifted him to eye level, despite the Sangheili's resistance.

_"I am not... concerned with whether or not... you choose to continue... following your misguided faith or not... all I am concerned with... is that you are revealed... the truth..." _It's eyes began to glow green. Kolre struggled in vain as he felt something entering his mind. His vain attempt at resistance was swept aside as his world suddenly turned white.

* * *

Everything around him changed into what seemed like an infinite expanse of stars and galaxies. It was a beautiful display of many vast and different colors, shapes, and expanse, some of which he couldn't even describe.

_"Many eons before your first ancestors were even born... we traveled the universe... seeding it with many vast and wondrous lifeforms..."_

The sight before him changed into an image of a countryside, on some far away and long forgotten planet. Hundreds of different lifeforms could be seen, going about their daily lives, while above them, a massive vessel, one Kolre couldn't even to begin to describe floated overhead.

_"This continued... for many eons... far more than you could count... as we paved the way for life to flourish throughout the universe under the Mantle of Responsibility..."_

The view changed once more, showing what could only assume were the other Precursors, spreading throughout a Galaxy, planting numerous worlds with life and observing their growth and development. This continued over and over again as they seeded galaxy after galaxy with life, until reaching one in particular. While he was unfamiliar with this galaxy, for some reason.

_"When we reached this galaxy 1.24 Billion years ago... we had nurtured life and allowed it to flourish in hundreds of galaxies... but with this one... we decided to try something we had never done before with a species we created..."_

The sight changed to the Precursors landing on a planet largely covered in oceans, with few splotches of land dotting its surface. The Precursors, with their incredible and indescribable methods, proceeded to create lifeforms which would inhabit this world. But one in particular stood out from the others, one that several Precursors were giving rather significant attention. It was some kind of massive aquatic creature, similar in looks to a squid but with a bony carapace. Kolre watched as the Precursors set several into the oceans of the planet.

_"What you saw... was what would be come to called Leviathans in your language... at least, what their name, Vlut'uohle, would translate to..." _

_"Leviathans?"_

_"Yes... they were the first sentient race of this galaxy... the ones that we chose to uphold the mantle of responsibility within this galaxy... and guide other races into peaceful coexistence and harmony... which was why... we gifted them with some of our grand powers..."_

Another sentient species was shown to have later evolved on the lands of the ocean world, some kind of four legged, two armed reptilian species. He noticed, though, that the Leviathans were manipulating and controlling the land sentients, providing them with vast knowledge that allowed them to traverse the stars, which in turn allowed the Leviathans to expand across the cosmos as well, absorbing new species into servitude as they continued to expand their 'empire'. The various sentient races they had gathered had eventually become nothing more than slaves to the Leviathans. Some of the more resilient races were forced to give living sacrifices to the Leviathans in order to keep them from unleashing their wrath.

_"We were not aware of these events that were transpiring... for we had already left... to seed other galaxies that were devoid or lacking of significant life..."_

_"This doesn't explain anything! You claimed to have created the Forerunners! I've yet to see any proof!"_

_"Tell me... are you even aware... of what a Forerunner even looks like?"_

_"I... the... the Covenant has some idea of what they looked like..." _

_"Such uncertainty... allow me... when we arrived to your galaxy 50 Million years ago... the galaxy had already a vast diversity of lifeforms living within it... regardless, we chose to seed it with our own designs as well... here at 15 Million years ago..." _

The image changed to show the Precursors entering the atmosphere of a lush and beautiful world, full of life and diversity. The Precursors were seen adding a species to the planet, a tall humanoid species standing roughly 8-9 feet tall.

_"One day... they would become what was known as the Forerunners... as well as the harbingers of our doom..."_

Kolre's mind was suddenly assaulted by thousands of memories. The Precursors creating numerous species within the galaxy, including his own, the rise of the Forerunners, their war with the Precursors, their expansion and domination of the galaxy. Forerunner war with ancient humans, the Flood, the firing of the Halos, much to his horror as their true nature is revealed. The reseeding of life in their galaxy, and events leading to the present day.

Kolre was confused, angry, and saddened all at once as these memories flooded into his mind.

_"It is all true... we created the Forerunners, then were in turn destroyed when they rebelled against us... the Flood were our weapon of vengeance against them for their deceit... but by then the damage was already done... the few of us that had survived the war fled to other galaxies... I myself retreated with several others to this galaxy... only for__ the Forerunners to appear and capture me and several of my kind...__The Forerunners having slowly begun to explore other galaxies... their curious nature getting the better of them, but choosing not to interfere with the progression of other galactic species... this was the only reason they learned of my survival... some time afterwards, they ceased the majority of their exploration, save for a handful of other galaxies... but all forms of exploring other galaxies ceased when my brethren unleashed the Flood upon them... leaving behind these few relics you now seek...__"_

Kolre could hear the pure hatred in the being's voice at the last part, as he saw numerous metal monsters, all looking like a Leviathan of sorts, descending from the heavens and attacking a developed world of some forgotten civilization, killing scores of thousands indiscriminately as they and their metallic legions of monsters went about and slaughtered all organics, then proceeded to harvest them, as they had done on millions of other worlds before. Kolre could see an angry red eye glaring at him, before the metal monster bellowed out its warcry and enveloped him in red light.

Kolre could feel the immense anger seeping off the ancient being's conscious as it continued to speak.

_"Some time after they had left, several of my brethren were freed by travelers that discovered the Forerunner sites... __only to discover what the Leviathans had wrought in our absence..." _

Kolre could hear the pure hatred in the being's voice at the last part, as he saw numerous metal monsters, all looking like a Leviathan of sorts, descending from the heavens and attacking a developed world of some forgotten civilization, killing scores of thousands indiscriminately as they and their metallic legions of monsters went about and slaughtered all organics, then proceeded to harvest them, as they had done on millions of other worlds before. Kolre could see an angry red eye glaring at him, before the metal monster bellowed out its warcry and enveloped him in red light._ "__For several eons of these cycles... every time one of us was located and freed, we would try to help the rising powers break the cycle... but our powers... our strength was taxed and waned from such prolonged conflict with the Forerunners... Along with the fact that every one of the galactic civilizations we encountered were too reliant on this Element Zero, making them unable to break out of the Reapers' Cycle... we were a shadow of ourselves... one by one, my brethren fell to either the sands of time or to these metal abominations... until I was the only one left..."_

Kolre watched as the image changed to that of the station they were on now, the Precursor being placed in a stasis chamber by the Forerunners. There were several samples of fine dust, which Kolre realized were the remnants of other Precursors, stored in vast jars.

_"The Forerunners had slowly begun to explore other galaxies... their curious nature getting the better of them... as well as the only reason they learned of my survival... but all forms of exploring other galaxies ceased when my brethren unleashed the Flood upon them... leaving behind these few relics you now seek..."_

He could see the Forerunners leaving the station, returning to their home galaxy as the Precursor was left in solitude, guarded by legions of Sentinels and Forerunner automatons, as well as an Oracle, or what the Forerunners called a Monitor. He watched as the eons passed, before the Precursor spoke once more.

_"Over these eons... through my manipulation of this station's Ancilla... a former ally was able to establish contact with me... the Forerunner Ancilla... known as Mendicant Bias..."_

Kolre was shown a familiar image. It was from High Charity, inside the Forerunner Dreadnought, where the sacred Oracle was located. The massive room which housed the colossal Oracle, to be precise.

_"The Oracle of the Forerunner Dreadnought?"_

_"Nothing but a mere fragment... of the entire Forerunner Ancilla... with his assistance, I was able to learn of the situation within your galaxy... to which aided me in my decision of recruiting you and your fellow warriors, along with others, in aiding me..."_

He was shown the Battle of Psi Serpentis, that fateful day when their lives were changed. He saw the human ship detonating its super weapons into the gas giant's core, causing it to ignite. The massive supernova racing towards them as their fleet made an emergency jump in a desperate attempt to save their lives. His view suddenly changed to the view of the metallic Leviathan once more, its red glowing eye glaring at him. Its metallic bellow was heard, resonating through his body before everything was enveloped in red. Then, the next thing he knew, he was back in the room on the Forerunner Facility, with the Salarians and the... Precursor. He was on his hands and 'knees', breathing heavily. Somehow his wounds had been healed, likely the creature's doing. In truth, he had never felt better, just physically and mentally exhausted.

* * *

_"So, enlighten me... what truths have you concluded?"_

Kolre's mind raced, the surge of memories filling his mind. He didn't want to admit it, he couldn't, his devotion to the gods wouldn't allow it, but every one of the memories he had witnessed, every fiber in his body kept telling him the same thing.

_"You... your kind... created the Forerunners... you created us... and the humans..." _Kolre spoke, his eyes darting lazily back and forth, as if he was visibly looking through the memories given to him. The Precursor silently waited for him to continue.

_"You originally... intended for... for the Forerunners to inherit the..." _He paused to make sure he had the words right, _"Mantle of Responsibility? But, they didn't develop... a-along a path that you approved of, so you then chose the... humans... to inherit it. But the Forerunners learned of this..."_

_"And then proceeded to wipe out my species as a whole... leaving only a handful of survivors that escaped their grasp..." _The Precursor calmly finished, as Kolre resumed to talk.

_"This lead to the Flood... which lead to the Forerunners creating Halo... lead to the death of all life in the galaxy... reseeding? Humans being made the... Which means..." _Kolre's voice trailed off as the pieces all came together, and the truth finally began to set in. Everything he believed in, his faith, the Covenant. All of it.

_"The Great Journey... was a lie?" _His voice came out so soft, it sounded as if he was questioning himself.

_"From what I gathered from your mind... rather a well constructed lie... conceived by the San'Shyuum... who have always been masters of deceit and manipulation... in order to have power over the other members of your... Covenant..."_

Kolre's thoughts quickly filled with distraught and despair, a part of them wanting him to kill himself out of shame. Not only of the fact he had been revealed the truth of Forerunners, but of the hundreds of massacres on the humans he had participated in under the deceit of the Prophets. They were the rightful inheritors of the Forerunners' legacy, and the San'Shyuum had attempted to kill them to keep the truth quiet. How many others knew of this truth, he wondered.

No matter how much he tried to convince himself it wasn't true, every bit of his mind was telling him it was truth. It just made too much sense. The lack of Forerunner sites, the lack of contact from their fellow Covenant, the different aliens. Somehow, this thing had brought them to another galaxy, far from High Charity, from Sanghelios, from everything they've ever known. Not only that, everything he had ever had faith and believed in was nothing more than a lie.

For the first time in his life, Kolre Uzinaree was unsure of himself. Unsure of what to do.

_"This does not mean, however... that all is lost... you and the Covenant can still do much good... by aiding me..."_

_"Aid you? How?" _He looked up at the massive being.

_"Make no mistake, Sangheili..." _the Precursor's voice rumbled as it stepped forward, looking up towards the large shaft on the ceiling, _"The Dark Ones are coming... one day, soon... the Reapers will return... and once they do... they will resume the cycle... harvesting and annihilating all sentient life in the galaxy... unless something is done to break the cycle... an outside variable... you... your task __will be stopping the Reapers..."_

_"How? If they are as strong as you claim-"_

_"In comparison to races that followed their evolutionary design, yes... but their armor is in truth only moderately strong... they can be destroyed like any other being... their true strength lies in their shielding... their main weapons... and their ability to indoctrinate organics... your technology, derived off the Forerunners... are and will be a match for the Reapers..."_

* * *

He watched as the Precursor began to climb up towards a massive vent on the ceiling, its Salarian followers proceeded out one of the doors. Continuing its climb, the Precursor's voice rumbled around the room as the massive creature squeezed into the shaft, compressing its body in order to fit. Kolre slowly rose to his feet, a labored breath escaping him as he did so. Looking up to where the Precursor was, he could hear it speak.

_"Remember... your mission, now, Kolre... you must help break the cycle... do not worry, though... I have left an imprint on your mind... so that I may help you and guide you along the way... hurry, now... time grows short..." _

He suddenly heard the unmistakable shrieks of the Flood off in the distance somewhere, turning his body to face the source of it. He cursed his luck, however, as his weapons were gone. He noticed, though, that on his hilt, he still had his Energy Sword. He looked back up to the shaft, only to see the Precursor was gone, leaving him alone in the room.

_'And I do not know... if my children will leave you be...'_

He could hear the creature speak from within his mind, startling him at first as he initially didn't know where it was coming from. Igniting his sword, he cautiously made his way over to one of the doors. The Sangheili warrior entered the hallway, coming upon a divide in the hallway.

He wasn't sure of which one to take, but suddenly heard the Precursor speak in his mind, _'To the right will lead you to the lift...'_

Hesitant, as he was still uncertain of whether or not he could trust this creature, he slowly proceeded down the right hallway. Kolre didn't know whether trusting this thing was a good idea or not. But at this moment, it was in truth the only option he had. With a horde of undead abominations running loose, it was either take a chance or die.

And Kolre prefered to live.

* * *

_**Forerunner**_**_ Facility orbiting _**_**Gas Giant Zulzirk  
**__**Covenant Landing Zone**_

_"Keep these bastards away from the wounded! We have to hold out till the Phantoms arrive!" _Lt Zeetor'Feezu roared as he fired away at a Elite Combat Form charging him, it's pained shrieks filling the air as the Quarian Marine peppered it with rounds from his Terminator Assault Rifle. After several gruelling seconds of sustained fire, the Flood form finally went down, rolling down the ramp leading up to the landing zone, though he wished it had fallen over the edge into the gas giant beneath them. Feezu fired into its corpse to make sure it was actually dead. With a shriek, the monster rose back up, only this time was cut down by the combined fire of 2 other Quarian Marines as well.

Feezu cursed. Plasma weapons seemed to be the only truly effective weapon against these monsters, but there weren't that many to go around, and Feezu's own Plasma Rifle was depleted. He knew he should have went and grabbed the new Quarian Combat Armor back on Virmire, where they were given a recharger system built into their armor at the waist and back for Plasma Weapons. But, like a fool he chose to put it off, thinking he could do it when he got back.

Now, he might not get the chance.

A monstrous cry snapped him out of his stupor as he was suddenly slammed into by some massive being. Being thrown to the ground, he looked up and saw a Krogan Combat Form looming over him, preparing to maul him. He raised his Rifle to fire, but was beat to the punch by the roar of Urdnot Wrex and his Claymore Shotgun, tearing into the abomination and ripping its left arm up to the shoulder off completely, a sickening sound following it.

The Krogan Flood Form bellowed as it charged Wrex, but the Battlemaster's already built up momentum proved the stronger of the two as the Krogan slammed into his opponent with a Biotic Charge, sending the creature flying over the edge and into oblivion below.

Looking back to Feezu, the Krogan spoke, _"On your feet, suit-boy. We got more coming!" _he finished by tossing the Quarian a Shotgun, before turning back to face another onslaught of the undead nightmares charging their position. The remaining Covenant Leadership had gathered their surviving forces and had ordered them to pull back to the landing zones while they waited for the Phantoms to extract all the wounded personnel before evacuating the remaining troops.

That being said, the Flood weren't making it easy for them.

Feezu couldn't recall when he had last seen any STG, chances were they were all dead or... converted. Any that were still alive were probably off the station by now, fleeing to what was left of their Fleet in orbit. He knew that both sides had suffered some serious casualties in this battle, and were now both fighting for their lives against these... things.

Feezu couldn't help but wonder just what the hell these things were. The Sangheili had told him what they were, the Flood, but what he wondered was just where did they come from? Did somebody make them? Where they some kind of biological weapon that these... Forerunners were keeping stored here? If so, then why? All these questioned filled his mind, but he could save that for later. Right now, he needed to focus on getting everyone out of here.

_"Lt! One of the Landing Zones is getting overrun!" _A Quarian Marine shouted from his position.

_"Dammit! Where the hell are the Phantoms?!" _Feezu cursed as he fired his new shotgun at a Salarian Combat Form, tearing its body to pieces. He could hear on the comms the sounds of several Covenant Soldiers, Krogan, Quarian, and Sangheili, shouting and screaming as their positions were overrun or they were killed by the Flood Forms.

Cursing, he lifted his shotgun and slayed another Salarian Combat Form charging him, before tossing out a plasma grenade at a surge of advancing Flood Forms. Several with ripped apart or simply sent flying upon the grenade's detonation. Beside him, he could see Wrex in the heart of the carnage, slaughtering any who challenged him, either by his guns or his biotics, or even just a good old fashion melee. If there was one thing Feezu could say to describe the Krogan Battlemaster, it would be a killing machine. All the more reason he was glad they were on the same side.

But, it didn't change the fact they were slowly getting overrun.

_"Wrex, we can't keep this up for much longer!" _Feezu quickly ducked into cover as ME rounds suddenly slammed into his Kinetic Barriers.

_"Then roll over and die, already. You'll be doing them a favor." _Came the Krogan's retort, as he crushed the chest of a Sangheili Combat Form before firing into another one with his Claymore. _"Meanwhile," _He grunted out, _"I'll be sitting here killing everyone of these undead freakshows. Because I plan on living." _Wrex roared out the last part as he lifted a thrashing Salarian Combat Form and tossed it over the side of the platform.

_"But, Wrex, even you have limits. We need to get out of here before they overwhelm us!" _Feezu popped out with a couple Quarians and a Sangheili Minor, firing off multiple rounds at the Flood horde.

_"And the only way that's going to happen is if we hold out until the Phantoms arrive." _Wrex replied, casting a Biotic Warp at a group of oncoming Infection Pods, the singularity ripping through their fragile bodies. He turned and fired his Claymore Shotgun again, bisecting a charging Krogan Combat Form, which thrashed about on the floor before Wrex fired another round into it, effectively killing it. _"So, quit whining and start shooting!"_

* * *

Feezu could tell the Krogan was pissed off. More so than usual. He had heard about General Uzinaree's death at the hands of some sort of Flood Monster inside the facility. While this had saddened him, as he had much respect for the General, he had come to suspect that the Krogan, though he would never dare admit it, taken the lost rather bad, too. While the two would constantly get under the other's skin, largely due to the fact Wrex would constantly poke fun and question the Covenant's Religion, when it combat they worked in perfect unison. Twin dealers of death that complemented one another.

A part of him believed that, though Wrex would again never admit it, the Krogan probably saw the Sangheili as an comrade of sorts, if not a friend.

* * *

Feezu was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard screaming coming from his left. Turning towards the source, he was greeted by a horrendous sight. A squad of Quarian Marines had been overwhelmed by Infection Pods, the small creatures swarming each of them by the dozens. While their environment-sealed suits offered some protection, the Flood were quick to find weaknesses in the armor. One poor bastard had an Infection Pod latched onto his visor, the creature attempting to bypass it in order to reach its victim inside.

The Marine screamed out as he attempted to rid himself of the creature, crushing one under his foot before another latched onto the small of his back. The Quarian was eventually forced to the ground by the added weight, as the Infection Pod latched to his face succeeded in penetrating the visor, ripping off and sinking its tentacles into the screaming man's face.

Another Quarian was shot at point blank range with a shotgun by a Sangheili Combat Form, causing the Marine to double over. The Flood Form then swung it whip-like tentacle and wrapped around the man's head, before being slammed repeatedly into the ground.

Other members of the squad met similar fates as the Flood Forms overwhelmed them. Feezu cursed and pulled out his Terminator AR, before firing in bursts at the horde along with several Sangheili SpecOps. The hordes numbers, as well as the infected corpses of his men, were annihilated under the sustained fire. Though it was better than the alternative, Feezu still didn't like the fact that his men were dying.

* * *

_'Attention all ground forces, you have Phantoms inbound to your locations.'_ the comms suddenly roared to life. Feezu looked up to see several Phantoms on approach. Three of them came flying in, firing away with their guns at numerous Flood creatures. While the Flood Forms returned fire with various weapons, they were largely cut down by the superior firepower thrown their way as the Phantoms descended.

Several Squads made their way towards the descending craft, as the Phantoms' strafing fire kept the Flood forces at bay. Feezu bolted towards the nearest Phantom, with Wrex beside him. _"Get the wounded aboard, first." _He ordered, as several squads helped load up the wounded onto the Phantoms. He looked back to see Wrex staring back at the facility, a scowl, or the Krogan equivalent to one, prominent on his face.

* * *

Feezu, knowing that the Krogan was in a fowl mood, cautiously walked up to him. He could hear a growl rumble out of the aged Battlemaster. _"Wrex, come on, we've got to go. There's nothing left for us here but death." _

Grunting, the Krogan Battlemaster turned towards the dropships, silent as he walked pasted the Quarian. Deep in thought, the Krogan didn't hear the comms going off, not bothering to listen as to who was speaking, nor did he actually care at that moment.

Feezu didn't hear it either, as the voice was too garbled to identify. Taking one last look at the facility, reminiscing on the hundreds of soldiers who have died, he too finally turned and walked towards the Phantoms, as the last of the wounded were brought aboard. As they and the other survivors piled onto the Phantoms and took off, the comms went silent once more.

* * *

_**Forerunner**_**_ Facility orbiting _**_**Gas Giant Zulzirk  
**_**_Inside Facility_**

Kolre cursed as he received no reply from the comms. He was probably too deep within the facility to effectively communicate, that or his comm unit was damaged. Likely both. Raising his newly equipped Plasma Rifle, recently acquired off a Flood Combat Form, he scanned the hallway ahead of him as he continued forward. His motion tracker was clear for the moment, but he knew that could change in an instant when it came to the Flood.

He wondered how many people were even still alive on the station. There couldn't be many left. He knew that any Covenant Forces still alive would have pulled out by now, as the situation was now too large to merely contain with the number of troops they had. More than enough encounters with the Flood had taught them this first hand. The Salarian STG on the other hand, he couldn't say. The Sangheili General doubted they've fared any better, but he wasn't sure about how they would react to such a threat that was now so significant.

At this point, though, it probably didn't matter. The station would be annihilated by the orbiting Covenant Ships to prevent the Flood Outbreak from spreading. Containing the Flood was now the top priority, above all else.

Even his own life.

Which meant he needed to find a ride out of here and fast. He was certain there was at least something here to use, he just had to find it.

* * *

His motion tracker suddenly lit up, showing two blimps moving towards him from the front. The hallway in front of him split off into two directions, the motion tracker showing the unknowns were coming from the left. Raising his Rifle, he readied for combat once more the contacts neared rounding the corner. He could hear them running, their breaths ragged and spent.

To his surprise, instead of two Flood forms rounding the corner, two Salarian STG came barreling out of the corner, before one of them noticed Kolre and both came to a complete stop, staring at the Sangheili Warrior. Kolre kept his weapon trained on them, not wanting to take any chances. Behind the Salarians, nightmarish screams could be heard, causing the two Salarians to look back.

_"Go! Run, run, run, run! They're right behind us!" _One of the STG shouted as they both sprinted towards the Sangheili. Sure enough, several Flood forms came rounding the corner, shrieking their cries as they chased after their prey. Kolre snarled as he raised his Plasma Rifle and fired at the advancing horde of undead nightmares. The two STG, who had run past him, turned and each took a knee as they both fired as well, mass accelerated rounds streaming out of their Assault Rifles.

Several of the Flood forms fell under the combined fire of the trio, while several of the others returned fire with whatever weapons they had on them, ME rounds and Plasma Bolts striking Kolre's shields and forcing him to dodge and weave from the incoming fire. The Salarians were forced to do the same as their barriers offered no protection from Covenant Plasma Weapons.

The two STG each primed a grenade before flinging them at the approaching horde. Twin explosions devastated the Flood forms, as the trio then proceeded to finish off the stragglers that had survived.

* * *

After the last of the Flood forms fell to the trio's firepower, silence filled the station once more. The next thing, Kolre knew, the two Salarians trained their weapons on him. He snarled as the STG kept their distance. He could see they were uncertain as to what to do with him, probably having half a mind to shoot him.

_"What do we do with him?" _One of the Salarians asked.

_"Just shoot him and be done with it, Rukon."_

_"But he helped us, Zadarf." _

_"Out of self-interest. He'll turn on us if we let him live." _Zadarf snarled, keeping his Assault Rifle trained on the Sangheili General.

_"This is foolish talk, Salarian. We stand a better chance of survival if we work together." _Kolre interjected. In truth he wasn't too concerned with either choice they made. His shields were still strong enough to shrug off their fire if they chose to try and kill him, which in turn would only result in their deaths. However, he didn't like the prospect of being alone on a Flood infested station by himself. If it meant getting out of here alive, he had no quarrel working with the enemy, albeit temporary.

Zadarf, however, didn't seem to have the same mindset. The STG stepped up and shoved the barrel of his gun into the Sangheili's face, _"Shut it, Split-lip! He may not know who you are, but I do full well, Demon of Jalnor." _Kolre couldn't help but narrow his eyes in annoyance, and somewhat surprise. It had been a long time since he had been called that name.

_"Demon of Jalnor?" _The Salarian identified as Rukon questioned.

_"Yeah, Rukon. During the Covenant-Batarian War, Kolre Uzinaree here partook in the Fall of Lorek. He lead the counterattack at Jalnor, some 1,000 Batarian and Turian dying by his own hands personally in that battle alone. Made a nasty habit of using captured Turian and Batarian POWs to lead him and his men to other units hiding out, only to kill them after their usefulness had passed.__ Went on to stack up some 3,000 kills by the end of the campaign on Lorek. He'll do the same thing to us once we're clear of the Flood and this damn station.__"_

Kolre grunted in annoyance. While what the Salarian had said was true, the kill count was largely and often times exaggerated by the Citadel Races about his exploits in the War. In truth, he had killed maybe 300-400 soldiers during the Fall of Lorek. That being said, a good number of those were by his blades. This probably helped build up his reputation as a unstoppable demon on the field. That, and his units' clever use of their cloaking technology, which often times had allowed them to enter right in the midst of the Citadel forces and in turn annihilate them. This devastating technique, amongst other things, had earned him the nickname the 'Demon of Jalnor'. Not that he was particularly fond of the name.

_"If we even get off the station. Our chances would be better if we work together to get off this station before my ships destroy it." _

_"Rot in hell, Covenant-" _Zadarf never finished his sentence, as a shriek cut him off. Kolre caught movement to the left of him and immediately lunged out of the way. Zadarf, however, hadn't been quick enough, turning just in time to see a Salarian Combat Form tackle him and pin him to the ground. Shrieks from both respective creatures followed as the Flood Form proceeded to tear into the down STG, tearing at his chest before biting into his neck and ripping out a massive chunk, green blood spurting everywhere.

Kolre was quick to rise and fired his Plasma Rifle, plasma bolts ripping the creature apart and sending it sprawling to the ground. Rising back to his feet, Korle fired a few more bolts into it to make sure it was dead. He looked over to see Rukon, his back pressed to the wall, a look of pure terror on his face. The Salarian's Rifle was trembling in his hands as the STG stared at the mutilated corpse of his companion. The whole ordeal had occurred in only a few seconds.

* * *

Rukon's mind was racing a thousand thoughts a minute.

How could they have been so foolish? What if these things got loose off the station? Could they really escape? What if this was his fate? Was he really going to die here? Converted into one of these monsters?

He could feel his heart racing, his body trembling, and his breath shaky. Every part of his body was racked with unadulterated terror. The terror in possibly turning into one of those things or being ripped apart by one, the scenarios playing out in his head over and over and over again.

* * *

Growling softly, Kolre walked over to one of the other fallen Flood forms, looking amongst the weapons that they had. Finding what he was looking for, he grabbed the Carbine and its ammo, before walking back over to the traumatized Salarian and tossed him his Plasma Rifle. This had snapped him out of his stupor and caused him to looked at Kolre incredulously.

_"On your feet, Salarian. If you wish to avoid his fate, then I suggest you follow me." _The Sangheili General spoke, before turning back towards the dividing hallway and walking towards the right one. The Salarian, uncertain of what to do anymore, shakily rose to his feet, took one last look at his dead friend, and after several seconds, slowly walked on to catch up with Korle.

* * *

_'Hurry, Kolre... your brethren are no doubt preparing to fire on this station. The fate of the galaxy rest on you leaving here alive.' _The Precursor voice rung in his head. Kolre still wasn't sure whether to trust the creature or not, but for the moment, he didn't have a choice but to believe.

* * *

_**Orbit of Forerunner Facility  
**__**CCS-Battlecruiser 'Kindled Spirit'**_

_"Shipmaster, nearly all of our forces have been evacuated off the station. The fleet is awaiting your order to fire." _One of the stations reported to him. Kida 'Vazamee nodded as he received the news while observing the the hologram of the battlemap, showing the location of his ships and the Salarians. The STG had largely been wiped out, the remainder, two ships, were now fleeing the scene, realizing the battle was lost. He had lost all of his Frigates, but none of the Battlecruisers had been lost, meaning they still had a significant amount of firepower to destroy the station.

Taking a deep breath, the Shipmaster spoke, _"All ships. Charge Plasma Torpedoes and Energy Projectors and prepare to fire on the station on my mark." _

_"Are we really about to destroy this relic? Probably one of the only examples of Forerunner tech we'll find for sometime." _He heard a quarian speak lowly, uncertainty plaguing his voice.

_"Prevent the Flood from spreading takes priority over all, even the retrieval of our lord's' creations. The Gods will understand our decision. Prepare to fire." _Kida assured, as he readied to destroy the station and rid the Galaxy of the Flood Threat once and for all.

* * *

**Time is running out for Korle. Will he escape? Find out in the final chapter of Halo-Mass Effect: Altered Destiny.**

**The Final Chapter will likely be significantly longer than previous chapters, as alot of things need explaining and closure, so I c****an't say when for certain the final chapter will come out, but hopefully won't take like 6 months.**

**I would like everyone to know that I'm going to go ahead and release the Prologue Timeline of Halo-Mass Effect: Contact (Book 2). This decision was made because I'm honestly not sure when the first chapter will come out following the conclusion of H-ME:AD. The reason for this is because I'm wanting to put more time in my other stories and build them up as well. All I can say for certain is that Book 2 will come out some time in 2016. **

**Again, constructive criticism is welcome. Also, Thanks once more for all the support that you, the fans, have given to this story and I hope you do the same for any of my other stories that you like as well.**

**See ya then!**

**-Azores**


	10. Update

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**Hey, guys. Azores here to clear some things up with you. For those of you wondering, I was deleting the two update chapters that were in this stories seeing as they were no longer relevant. I apologize for any confusion. I'll hopefully have the next chapter up within the next couple of weeks or so. (I'll be gone for 2 weeks in Mid-June so I'm trying to race against the clock.) This update will be deleted upon the release of the final chapter. Thanks for your continued support and I'll see you next time.**

**-Azores**


	11. Ch 11 (Important Announcement)

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio/Video Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

_**08.05.2122  
**__**Local Cluster  
**__**Epsilon Eridani System  
**_**_Reach  
_**_**Marusic Island, 1,261 Miles from New Sarajevo (Capital)  
**__**Fort Hood Military Installation**_

Reach. The Military Stronghold and Fortress World of the Systems Alliance. Home to over 300 million inhabitants, it's the second most populated world outside the Sol System and the most heavily defended colony within the Systems Alliance, after Earth. Many however, expect that Reach will become the most populous within the next 50 years. With over 50 warships defending it and nearly 8 million soldiers on the ground, one would be hard pressed to attack such a well defended colony.

At least, that's what Professor, and Systems Alliance Intelligence (SAI) Director, Ellen Anders would like to believe, despite knowing otherwise.

While against Insurrectionist Forces, Reach would indeed be nearly impossible to fully take over, an outside faction, rather an Alien Faction like the Covenant, wouldn't have very little trouble taking the planet if the Fleet in orbit was knocked out. Along with a majority of the other colonies within the Systems Alliance. This was a large part of the reason why many within the Alliance Military Command were wanting to rapidly expand the size of the Navy as fast as possible. This fear had also granted the SAI the green light on numerous Research and Development project that were considered too unethical or controversial for mainstream research to handle.

* * *

When Ellen had been first introduced to the inner workings of the Systems Alliance, the first thing she had noticed was that they had no official intelligence organization, instead relying on over a dozen intelligence firms from a dozen different nations. Each having their own goals and motives, most of the time not willing to work with one another.

How they had gotten anything done beforehand escaped her. However, when she and the rest of the UNSC had entered the scene and were integrated into the Alliance, Anders had immediately went about setting up a centralized intelligence agency. After the UNSC had gone about reorganizing the whole of the Alliance, the end result meant that the nations of old no longer had any power or influence. For their intelligence agencies, this meant that they were out of the job. At least, until Anders offered them the chance to keep their jobs by pooling their resources and assets together into one intelligence agency. Despite their reluctance, it didn't take them long to decide.

As the Alliance expanded and began to colonize other worlds, Anders had the SAI expand into other fields, such as R&amp;D and Interstellar Exploration. The objective was for the SAI to be modeled in similar fashion as the ONI in terms of function and purpose, but with limitations and restrictions on what it can and cannot do. One of the problems that was unanimously agreed on was that ONI had been allowed to grow too large, too powerful, and too influential without proper management and observation by the UNSC. The last thing the Alliance was wanting was an intelligence organization becoming so powerful they could influence politics.

Something Anders, Cutter, and later Cole were all too eager and willing to prevent. Anders had no intention of turning the SAI into another ONI.

Anders' Office was inside the SAI Headquarters inside Fort Hood, situated near the northern cliff edge of the island. The SAI Headquarters extended some 120 meters down into the earth, where a majority of the research and development happens. Her office was a two level design, with the work place on the first floor and the second being a living quarters for the Director when she was required to stay over for extended periods of time.

A home away from a home, per say.

* * *

One of the reports that had her and several other high profile members of the military uneasy, the ones who knew anyway, was the discovery of several Large Alien Artifacts, known as Mass Relays, floating in space in the Arcturus System, numbering 7 in total. Each one was 15 kilometers long, and were massive in scale. Research and analysis of the objects suggested they ranged from a couple hundred thousand to millions of years old.

And they had everyone in the SAI nervous.

"Director Anders, the latest studies of the alien device's molecular structuring has confirmed that it is not Forerunner in origin. The materials used to construct these devices are not known to any Alliance or UNSC databases." Her 'VI' spoke up as several more reports came in, its holographic avatar appearing on her table top.

Anders sighed, "We already know they're not Forerunner in origin. They don't share any similarities with known Forerunner structures. Can we confirm if any of them are active or not? She asked, following it up by taking a sip of her coffee, which had long since gone cold.

"Without directly interacting with the devices, we can't confirm anything with 100% certainty. The lead scientists in charge, however, aren't convinced that any the Relays are active. Also, it's not like those scientist know that they're not Forerunner, with us being all tightlipped about them and all." the 'VI' replied.

Anders smirked, "Trying to get smart with me, Serina?"

UNSC Smart AI 'Serina's' hologram appeared before the Director, arms crossed as she smiled, "Oh heavens, no. I wouldn't dare dream it, if I could dream."

* * *

UNSC Smart AI SNA 1292-4 'Serina' has had a very unique and interesting life, to say the least. She had been, by UNSC standards regarding AIs, dead. But instead of terminating her, the Alliance chose to put her in what was basically the AI equivalent of suspended animation, with hopes of being able to revive her at a later date. Plus, being the Alliance's only piece of Artificial Intelligence, she was too valuable to just simple terminate and dispose of. And no-one in the Alliance knew when they would be able to produce their own AIs in large numbers. Research was being conducted, with Serina helping significantly, but at the current rate of progress, many estimated it wouldn't be for several more years, possibly not until sometime in the mid 2120s to possibly the turn of the decade before they achieved this.

* * *

Serina's 'revival' was possible thanks to the very thing that the Alliance was searching the Local Cluster for. Forerunner Relics. Namely one in particular that the Covenant had a fondness for using. Engineers, or Huragok as the Covenant called them.

Back in 2116, an underground Forerunner Facility had been discovered on the dwarf planet Ceres of the Sol System by surveyors from the local Mining Colony looking for new sources of Deuterium, Titanium, and other resources needed by the Alliance within the Kuiper Belt, the discovery luckily being kept quiet by timely intervention of SAI until it was deemed safe for public revelation and exploration. Exploration of the complex showed that not only was it still powered and functioning, but also had 6 Huragoks maintaining the facility, as well as a monitor, built into the facility in order to supervise it. As SAI explored the facility and interacted with the Huragoks, Director Anders, on a hunch, approached them and presented them Serina's AI chip, asking them if they could repair her.

Sure enough, the Huragoks went to work, taking apart and reassembling, repairing, and rebuilding the AI construct, though it did take a surprising amount of time for the engineering marvels, known for their speed and efficiency. A full minute. The end result, however, was beyond anything Anders could have expected. Not only had they succeeded in repairing Serina and basically bringing her back from the dead, but had created what was in essence the first Hybrid AI. Part Human, part Forerunner. Her capabilities and processing power were now magnitudes beyond anything that was deemed possible for modern age Smart AIs. She was in essence the most powerful tool within the entirety of the Systems Alliance.

And it was all thanks to the Huragoks. Unfortunately, they would not receive a happy ending.

Deciding that the Huragoks were simply too valuable to keep at the facility, Director Anders had ordered them moved to the SAI Headquarters on Reach, so they could be better protected and watched over. She would of had the monitor brought too, but due to it being built into the facility meant that would be nigh impossible. Then, the corvette transporting them was ambushed by a group of Innie Pirates as it had entered the Epsilon Eridani System. The Pirates attempted to board, failed, and in the end destroyed the corvette, leaving no survivors, the pirates fleeing as the Alliance Navy came into the rescue. Extensive searching of the vessel's remains and any loose cargo only confirmed that 5 of the Huragoks were killed in the ensuing battle, with the 6th one being unaccounted for along with a few various pieces of cargo that were not found. Not that it mattered anyway, the Huragok would have died the moment it was exposed to the vacuum of space.

Such incredible potential, a chance of a lifetime for humanity to make another technological leap forward, ruined by a bunch of extremists. But, thankfully not all was lost, as thanks to Serina now being part Forerunner AI, she could now translate and understand the Forerunner language. What they found wasn't what they were expecting.

Instead of a plethora of technological examples, what they got was a message. A warning.

* * *

The installation's archive and monitor proceeded to give them a detailed account of the empires that had arisen before them, the Inusannon, the Protheans and various other races, and how their empires had all come crashing down at the hands of a massive fleet of sentient starships known only as the Reapers. The archive continued on, saying that every 50,000 years the Reapers would come and indiscriminately harvest all sentient life in the galaxy, before removing any evidence of their existence and retreating back to deep space to repeat the cycle in 50,000 years time.

The monitor went on to warn them of how the Reapers went about with their cycle, using a previously unknown element to humanity known as Element Zero, used to power the entirety of their technology, as well as to convince upcoming civilizations to use and eventually come to rely upon the element for all of their needs. The use of massive space structures known as Mass Relays, used to travel thousands of light-years in mere hours, and finally, the inevitable discovery of a massive space station, known only as the Citadel, which would convince the civilizations to use it as their capital, unaware that in reality, it is nothing more than a giant Mass Relay leading to dark space. A trap designed by the Reapers to cripple the civilizations of the galaxy in one foul swoop, killing their leadership in one strike. It also revealed that a relay was hidden away, a design intentionally done by the Forerunners themselves, under the dwarf planet Pluto's moon, Charon, as well as several in the nearby Arcturus System.

The news, to say the least, put HIGHCOM in a complete panic once they received it from Anders. An emergency convening of the top ranking brass and leadership within the Alliance was ordered to discuss the recent findings, the reasons kept secret until all parties were present. Going over everything that was discovered, including the warning about the Reapers, the Alliance Leadership discussed for days on what to do regarding the newly found threat.

Although the evidence was met with some skepticism by a majority of the Alliance leaders, most agreed that the evidence provided by the archive and the monitor was enough to warrant their attention and a decision regarding how best to deal with it. The initial decision, which was unanimously agreed upon, was that any of the relays found were not to be tampered with in any way and kept under strict observation. Ultimately this fell unto SAI to manage, as the committee also agreed that the existence of the relays would be kept quiet for as long as possible.

The second was a revelation regarding humanity's existence. Both the archive and the monitor claimed that humans were not from this galaxy, in fact the very star system they called home wasn't even a real star system, but instead an artificially designed one, replicated from their original home system, that the Forerunners made for them. Humanity, and the Forerunners, were from a neighboring galaxy and had brought their ancestors over here. It went on to explain the reasoning behind, everything involving the Forerunners and Humanity's history, as well as the subsequent war with the Flood. The monitor stated that humanity had been chosen by the Forerunners to retain something called the Mantle of Responsibility, in which they would essentially retain and inherit all technological examples the Forerunners left behind after they had gone, but a failsafe was made should something go wrong and humanity was destroyed in its cradle back in their home galaxy. Hence, a second Sol System and a second humanity.

Though the reasons and the story seemed incredibly absurd or just outright unbelievable to most of the Alliance leadership, they nonetheless agreed that there must have been some truth in the archive's logs as there were numerous examples of the Forerunners' technology and relics that had been found, but nothing to indicate a homeworld or even a colony. That and the monitor said the exact same thing when asked about the Forerunners.

The third was what many within the Alliance had been hoping would be found, examples and/or blueprints for advance xeno-technology, though it wasn't much, appearing to be incomplete. According to the monitor, the installation wasn't finished in time and hadn't received all the data that was to be stored within. The archive showed them the designs for several innovations, such as Forerunner Alloys and how to make them, or slipspace engines, far superior to the ones the Alliance had. While the Alliance was more than happy to adopt and design the models and examples provided for them, the problem was that the Alliance simply didn't have the industrial or technical knowhow to built most of the examples provided for them. Most experts were already estimating it would be decades, possibly a full century before they had the capacity to develop, let alone mass produce some of the innovations that were discovered.

* * *

Despite their inability, at the moment to take advantage of the technological marvels provided to them, or of whether or not they believed what the archive had told them, the Alliance leadership agreed that they should make further preparations for a potentially hostile first encounter and devote more funds and manpower into defense R&amp;D, as well as xenoarchaeology to help uncover more potential caches of aliens relics and ruins hidden within the galaxy, with the hopes that it will lead to further advancements for humanity.

And with Serina now back online and functioning, they also had decided that she would be stationed inside SAI Headquarters on Reach for two reasons. The first being that from there, she can coordinate with Director Anders the numerous projects that Alliance R&amp;D were conducting throughout human space. The second was to prevent her from being captured or destroyed by any Insurrectionist or Terrorist factions.

And for the past 6 years, she has helped humanity forward, both technological and scientifically, without the populace ever knowing.

* * *

"So what would you say are the chances that one of these could be remotely activated, Serina? If somebody was really determined to turn them on?" Anders ask as she took another sip of her coffee.

"In all honesty, probably not too difficult. If the Forerunner Archive is correct, then these devices were designed to be interacted with. There appears to be a signal being sent to somewhere from the device, though."

"I thought none of them were activated?"

"Their main power isn't, but there's a small secondary generator being used to power some kind of long range communicator near the end of the devices that are sending signals to an unspecified location approximately 29,000 light years from the Galactic Core and approximately 35,000 light years from our Local Cluster."

"Let me guess, the Citadel, the supposed control center for all of the Relays in this galaxy?" Anders questioned as she crossed her arms. While she wasn't going to dismiss the Forerunners' claims regarding these relays and their true purpose, she was still rather skeptical regarding it all. But then again, if somebody had told her in 2524 that in a year's time, humanity was going to be at war with an Religious Alien Hegemony that would kills billions, she probably wouldn't have believed that either.

"I would assume so, ma'am."

Anders sighed. "You're still not convinced of this supposed threat, these 'Reapers'." Serina inquired.

"I'd be lying if I said I was. It's a lot to process. We get sent to another galaxy, seemingly being given a second chance at peace, only to find ourselves facing another possible life-ending threat to humanity." She chuckled some, "We can never seem to catch a break, huh?"

"At least we have forewarning of this threat's arrival, though. Even if their return is to happen this year, we would still have some time to prepare."

"How so?" Anders wondered how Serina could have possibly come to that conclusion. If every advanced civilization that had come before them, the Protheans, the Inusannon, civilizations that had controlled hundreds of star systems, were wiped out to the last being by these 'Reapers', what chance did the Alliance, who had less than 20 systems under its control, possibly have?

Serina suddenly pulled up a holographic display of the galaxy, with nearly 80 circled locations, some of the locations had multiple marks within the circles marking them, totaling to over 200 marks. One being their Local Cluster, another being where the 'Citadel' supposedly was, and various other locations provided by the archive. Most, save for three, which were supposedly the locations of Forerunner Super Structures, Shield Worlds, were interconnected via various lines; save for a handful which appeared to be away from any nearby Relays; showing the vast Mass Relay network that connected them all. Anders noticed that one of the Relays was situated at the very center of the galaxy.

"This is a map of all Relay Stations that lead to either the Citadel, Forerunner Relics, or some other area or things of interest. The green ones are ones that are currently active, red is inactive or the majority of the relays in that cluster are inactive or simply don't have their 'Prime Relay' activated to connect the cluster with the rest of the galaxy's relays." Serina explained as the holographic display magnified certain star systems, namely the Citadel's home system, the star systems housing Shield Worlds, and Arcturus System.

"I still can't fathom how the Forerunners hacked into the Relay Network without these 'Reapers' noticing." Anders pondered as she examined the map before her. Then again, there were still many things that even they didn't understand about the Forerunners, plus these 'Reapers' are likely used to having superiority over anything and everything, and based on what evidence they had one the two, the Forerunners might as well be gods. "So every one of these clusters has a forerunner relic, installation, or facility in it."

"Minus the Citadel's supposed location, yes." Serina confirmed, before expanding one such cluster on the screen, "Take a notice to this cluster in particular, however."

Looking at the display, Anders noticed that the cluster was showing a connection to one of the relays in Arcturus. In the cluster also showed that a Forerunner Relic was in the cluster somewhere. But getting to it would require activating the relay, something no-one amongst the Alliance Leadership was willing to do at the moment. "What's so special about it, Serina?"

"Well, it's only one of 5 unique Forerunner Signatures in the galaxy that match one another, it's located within the Petra Nebula, which is in a galactic sense next door to us and could easily be reached. Not only that, but if the Forerunner archive is correct, it's also something our crew has quite a bit of experience with." Serina answered as her hologram folded its arms, waiting for Anders to catch up.

The good doctor narrowed her eyes for a second at Serina's words, then widened in realization, "A Shield World..."

Serina smiled, "Yes, hopefully one that's not overrun by alien parasites or killer robots."

"That changes everything. If we could secure a Forerunner Shield World, we'd have a massive boom to our entire civilization. Food, Industry, Military..."

"We'd definitely be a force to be reckoned with, but we'd never get Parliament to agreed to it. It looks like you guys succeeded a little too well with the whole xenophobia trend." Anders glared at her, knowing that hadn't been their intent. Did she have a high opinion of anything alien? Going off past experience, no, not really. But did she believe every alien in the galaxy was out to get humanity? No. While she can't exactly speak for Cutter or Cole, she merely wanted the Alliance to be cautious when handling anything alien. With any luck, by the time Humanity does come into contact with an alien race, they'd be in a position where peace was feasible, but if necessary they could fight back and win.

Anders sighed, "Damn... How far is the Petra Nebula?"

"From the Local Cluster? Roughly 7,500 light years away." Serina answered., "Which would take 682 days to reach with current model Slipspace Drives. I don't think any of us want to try staying a popsicle for that long again."

1.86 years to reach it on Slipspace drives capable of 11 lightyears. No, neither Parliament nor HIGHCOM would deem the risk worth the reward, especially on a possible reward that would take nearly 4 years to find out about. As far as they knew, the Shield World could already be under control of someone else.

* * *

Knowing that, for now, the Shield World would be out of their reach, Anders stood up from her desk, "Alright, then. Serina, gather up a list of every Forerunner site that's plausibly reachable and send it up to HIGHCOM and Parliament. And by plausible, I mean any that would take 6 months or less for us to reach." It wasn't exactly necessary that she send a copy to Parliament, but it would be better and outright simpler for them to be kept in the loop instead of just reporting to them latter when they planned on doing something about it.

"Done. Taking a break, Doctor?"

"No, just a quick walk around the facility." Anders replied with a stretch of the arms and a yawn, "Maybe go see what O'Neil's up to in the Medbay."

"That's fine, I was getting bored of the company, anyway." Serina teased as the doctor walked out of the office and towards the door leading to the main hallway.

* * *

Stepping out into the hallway, she turned right and walked down towards where Medbay would be. By now, she knew O'Neil was likely in the CDR section of the Medbay, studying and analyzing new diseases that have appeared in the last 20 years since humanity started colonizing other worlds.

Gabriel O'Neil was formerly the Spirit of Fire's Chief Medical Officer, and had been indispensable in saving lives and ensuring the Flood, now confirmed to be a parasitic lifeform, didn't spread to their ship while on the Forerunner Shield World. In the years following, he, and the rest of the Spirit's Medical Staff, had helped the Alliance expand their medical knowledge, helping them to develop cures for Cancer, Diabetes, HIV and AIDS, and many other diseases that plagued Humanity of the 22nd Century. Benefits of having access to 26th Century medical knowledge.

While there have been new diseases that had cropped up in the years since humanity began colonizing, most of these have been easily treated with either Gene Therapy or Biochemical Enhancements, allowing humans to live on worlds they may not have been able to otherwise.

Every once in a while, O'Neil would have a bad case of depression, and apparently he had been rather depressed this week, too. She would always go and try to provide support for him. In order to help him, and keep an eye on him, she had a nurse accompany him everywhere, but lately it had seemed to get worse and she couldn't figure out why exactly. Every time she would try to inquire, he wouldn't answer. Maybe today he woul-

_'SECURITY TEAMS TO MEDBAY! SECURITY TEAMS TO MEDBAY!' _The intercom speakers suddenly roared. Behind her, a squad of Army Troopers suddenly stormed further down the hallway from her, running towards the Medbay. She ran down as well, following the Army Soldiers as they all ran towards the Medbay. From further down, they heard a gunshot ring out, followed by a scream.

Rushing pass the guards, she ran into the Medbay to find a nurse, pressed against the walls and her face buried into her hands as she sobbed out, while a army MP was comforting her. Looking over to her right Anders saw what the nurse was sobbing about.

* * *

At first, in 2110, it had started off as isolated cases, a handful committing suicide as it became more and more apparent that they weren't going home.

For some of them, the news that they were never going to see home, or their families, ever again was met largely with skepticism and outright denial at first, but as the years dragged on, some began to fall into depression as they had begun to accept the truth of their situation. And that's when the suicides began to happen. Only one or two cases at first, but then as the years dragged on and more came to accept the truth, the suicide rate skyrocketed, resulting in a panic amongst the Alliance Leadership. Of everyone hit the hardest by the news and the suicides, Admiral Cutter and Anders herself were hit hardest. Cutter, despite being depressed himself by the revelation, believed he could have prevented some of the suicides, and Anders realized she should have had someone keeping watch on their personnel.

As of August, 2122, some 807 of the 10,211 UNSC Personnel in the Systems Alliance have committed suicide since 2110, and the Alliance was trying to do everything in its power to keep others from following suite. Thankfully, the numbers had dropped to maybe 30-40 a year as opposed to how many it had been beforehand, upward of 250 in the first year following the archive's discovery.

Gabriel O'Neil, 56 years old, had now become the 808th to commit suicide.

* * *

His body was sprawled out on the floor next to the counter, the pistol still in his hand. A pool of blood was forming around him, dirtying his gray hair. His light blue eyes, now devoid of any life, stared blankly at her, tears falling to the side. In his other hand was a datapad, and on its screen Anders saw that a video of some kind was up on it. She slowly, almost reluctantly, walked over to the corpse and grabbed the datapad. Picking it up, she could now clearly see the image of an 8 year old girl on the screen, behind her were several rolling green hills.

Clicking play, the video started.

_'Hi, daddy! I miss you!' _The little girl waved to the camera, her light brown hair blowing in the wind. _'Mommy told me you were coming home soon and I wanted to tell you that I love you and I'll miss you!' _The girl gave gave the camera a toothy grin and waved once more before speaking again, _'Be safe daddy! I love you!' _The video stopped after that. She checking the video's information to see if anything relevant would appear, and she found it.

_/Video Recorded: 02/6/2531\/Video Origin: Kholo, Gilligan's System\_

Anders realized that this was just before the Spirit of Fire left for Arcadia, their last stop before they had chosen to follow the Covenant to the Forerunner Shield World, meaning that this was the last message that O'Neil would ever receive from his family. Not only that, but 6 months ago, she had asked Cole, who was being given a tour of the Fort, about what had happened after the war. They, that being Cutter, the Spartans, and herself, had asked him the question before, but this one was a little more in depth. She had learned that by 2542 the Covenant had all but overrun and destroyed the Outer Colonies, with one of the worst being Kholo. Glassed in 2539, less than 20,000 of the 72 million inhabitants escaped with their lives as the Covenant stormed the system. Unfortunately, O'Neil had overheard, walking right into the room where they were speaking just as Cole had begun speaking about Kholo.

* * *

"What the hell happened? How the fuck did he get a gun?!" One of the soldiers asked, rather demanded. The MP that had been comforting the nurse stood up and answered, "It's my fault. He asked me to help him with something and next thing I know, he socks me in the side of the head and grabbed my sidearm." She explained, "He aimed at and just... fuck, I don't know, just started sobbing, saying stuff like, 'You remind me of her' or 'She would have been 30 today'. I had no idea what he was talking about, but... then, he just..." The MP looked back to the body, obvious shaken up by the ordeal.

"Alright, alright. I get it." The soldier said, sighing as he spoke again, "Somebody get the medical team up here if they haven't been called already." He looked over to Anders and asked, "Doctor, are you alright?"

"I... y-yes, thank you." Anders was shaken, and mortified, as she realized something. Today was his daughter's birthday. To add on the fact that his home had been destroyed, and his family likely dead, it was no wonder why he had been so depressed. She had seen the pictures of some of the personnel that had killed themselves, but this was the first time she had seen it in person. God, she had been maybe two minutes away from being in the same room.

For the first time in a long time, she felt... she felt guilty. She felt that this was her fault, that she could have done something to prevent it. Was this what Cutter had been feeling this whole time, this guilt, this despair? She couldn't help but stare at O'Neil's body, whose lifeless eyes continued to stare straight at her, as if they were accusing her. She felt light headed and nauseous. She needed to leave.

Without saying a word, she walked out of the room and quickly walking back to her office. Reaching her bed room, she closed the door behind her, before sliding to the floor and bringing her knees to her chest. She brought a hand up to her face as she stared blankly at the floor, beside her the pedestal came to life as Serina spoke, "Ellen? Are you okay?"

Anders didn't answered. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.

* * *

**Hey Guys. Azores here, and I wanted to ask you all your thoughts on something that I've been thinking about for quiet some time. **

**As you can tell from the short chapter above, I'm really behind on the conclusion of this story (Book 1 anyway), but the more I go back and reread my story, the more I don't like and**** feel like I didn't do it right. I feel like I haven't done the best I could have (Granted, this is literally my first story.) **

**So in light of that, I'm considering starting over; and here's the idea I've got so far as to what my plan is for the new trilogy.**

* * *

**Book 1 (Halo-Mass Effect: An Altered Destiny)  
Human-focused Story that tells of the Spirit of Fire and the Alliance's rise and colonization of the local cluster before first contact.**

**Side Novel (Halo-Mass Effect: A New Age)  
****Alien-focused; Tells of what's happening with the rest of the Galaxy and how the Covenant come to be within the Mass Effect Galaxy. (Novel takes place at same time as Book 1)**

**Book 2 (Halo-Mass Effect: Contact)  
****First Contact between Alliance and rest of galaxy.**

**Book 3 (Untitled)  
****The Reapers arrive. **

* * *

**That's what I have so far, but again I haven't decided yet and in truth I'm wanting to hear everyone's input and opinion before I decide. If you want, contact me through any means and tell me your thoughts, via review, pm, whatever. I'll wait until next Saturday, September 10, before I give you my decision. And I seriously encourage everyone to at least say something, doesn't have to be long or anything. I want to hear the fans' opinion before I decide.**

**Thank you all for liking the story so much and for all the support, I still can't believe it's a popular as it is. **

**Oh and before I forget, to the person known as GoldSpark1, MAKE A GODDAMN ACCOUNT AND LET ME CONVERSE WITH YOU! **

**Seriously, the guy's reviewed like all but 3 of my stories as a guest and he's always super in depth and intellectual with the review. -_-**

**That's all for now, and thanks again for all the support.**

**-Azores**


	12. Update (The Decision)

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

**Bold-My Own Words**

**_Bold &amp; Italic-Locations, Time &amp; Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

_"Italic"-Foreign Languague_

_'Italic'-Radio Chatter_

_/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

**Hey Guys. Azores here, and I'm pretty sure most know why. **

**Well, after giving it some significant thought and going through everyone's opinion, those who gave it anyway, I've decided that I am going to rewrite the story and start over. **

**For those who did give their opinion on the matter:**

**-StarBorn Michael  
****-NathanHale2  
-Zeus501  
-DeathstrokeNorris  
-JosephLeeCollins  
-PrimusDefender501  
-Denalian  
...Guest  
-six samurai of dragon order  
-Reichenfaust  
****-Goldspark1  
-Dragon's Wrath  
-Fer82  
-x  
-OrderlyAnarchist  
-asqwerty3345**

**Thank you for giving you're opinion on the matter, as well as input and suggestions as to how I can improve my writing skills. Your input is always appreciated and encouraged.**

**For those wondering when the rewrites will come, expect them sometime in late Nov-Dec. (It looks like Holiday-2016 is gonna be a big one for me with all the stories I have coming out.) ****Until then, this story will remain up so that everyone can still read it (Idk if I'll remove it entirely, I may just let someone else 'purchase' it if they wish to see this one continue). **

**Until then, thanks for all the support and I'll see you next time.**

**-Azores**


	13. Important Message!

**Hey guys, Azores here. Just wanted to make a quick announcement regarding the updating/continuation of this story. ****At the moment, here's how the schedule's looking for my new story releases, based on what's going on at home at the moment. (At least, what I'm planning anyway.)**

**/\**

**\/**

**DOOM:  
DEAD SPACE**

**(Dec.1)**

**/\**

**\/**

**G-N: Age of Monsters**

**(Likely Dec.3-10)**

**/\**

**\/**

**Halo-Mass Effect**

**(Between Dec.25-Jan.1)**

**/\**

**\/**

**Continuation of Previous Stories**

**(Halo-Naruto; Gears of War: Solis Primus)**

**(Likely Late Jan-March 2017)**

**/\**

**\/**

**For those wondering about Mesozoic Kingdom (I can't imagine that it's many with only 7 followers.), I'm actually teaming up with someone whose helping create some new chapters for it. I can 't say for certain when new chapters will come out, all I know is that some new chapters will be on the way sometime in 2017.**

**/\**

**\/**

**As for Breaking Los Santos, I sorry to say but it's going to be discontinued and likely removed on Nov 19. I thought I had a good thing/idea going with that, but it just didn't pan out the way I wanted too. If anybody wishes to adopt it and take it as their own story, make sure to PM me if you're interested.**

* * *

**That's all I have for now. Thanks as always for your support, it's always appreciated. As always, feel free to leave advise, suggestions, or constructive criticism as they're always welcome to me. I'll see you soon!**

**-Azores**

***This message will be deleted after new chapter comes out/etc.**


	14. Another Imp-Msg! (Sorry forgt something)

**Hey guys, sorry I forgot to mention. Just so there isn't any confusion when H-ME is released, the release will start off as a two-chapter Prologue story separate from either of the two main stories. I originally was going to do prologues in both stories, but I figured it would make more sense to just merge the two together, since they're telling the same story from 3 points of view (Human, Covenant, and one surprise.)**

**Also I give you guys another head's up when the chapter is about to release, like 1-2 days before.**

**-Azores**

***This message will be deleted after new chapter comes out/etc.**


	15. Last Update till Release!

**Alright guys time for an update! **

**(And hopefully the last one.)**

* * *

**On Dec 25, 2016**

**Halo-Mass Effect: Salvation's Light**

**The 2 Chapter prequel to H-ME: An Altered Destiny and A New Age will release, followed up by the two books sometime in late Jan 2017. (I know I said Dec, but I've had family and personal issues going on and it's been impeding my work. Sorry.)**

**I want to say thank you to everybody who has shown their support for H-ME, as well as my other stories. It really means a lot. I try to make these as good and entertaining as possible. It's nice to know that people are actually enjoying them. **

* * *

**Also, since we're on the subject of Mass Effect, I was actually having an idea for a new story. (Don't worry, I'm not planning on doing it until late 2017, if I even do it.)**

**The premise for it is that it's set long after the events of the first 3 games, at the dawn of the 24th century in the year 2296. The Citadel Council and its associates, having suffered during the Reaper War, has basically ceased to function, with only the Asari, and Salarians remaining and retaining control of the Citadel, while everyone else has either left or created their own factions. Tensions are high and Pirates/Slavers attacks have become ever bolder. Many are now fearing Galactic War may soon erupt. **

**I don't have a name for it yet, but I was just curious as to what everyone thinks about this little proto-premise I have set up.**

* * *

**Anyway, thanks again for all the support and I'll see you all soon.**

**-Azores**


End file.
